The Best of the Best
by M C T
Summary: The Master Chief is in charge of assembling a squad to defend Earth and find the whereabouts of the Covenant homeworld. The Chief must travel through time first, and recruit some of the greatest fighters in Gaming History. Please R&R! COMPLETE
1. The Master Chief

Disclaimer: I don't own Bungie, Nintendo, Capcom, Squaresoft, Rockstar, Eidos, Activision, or any of the characters they had created, which is pretty much everyone in this story.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 1: The Master Chief  
  
"Good to see you, chief. Please, Take a seat." Said the Admiral.  
  
"Sir." Said the Master Chief, as he took a seat in front of the council.  
  
"As you know, the Covenant are now aware of the whereabouts of Earth. You, being the last Spartan, are in charge of assembling a team to help protect earth, and also, try to figure out where the Covenant's home world is located."  
  
"I understand, sir." Replied the chief.  
  
"I'm not done yet, son. This team will be no ordinary team. There has been an undercover project in progress by the UNSC for more than 100 years in the process, and we finally believe that it's been completed."  
  
"Sir? May I ask what this project is all about?"  
  
"Time Travel." Scientists have been working day and night since the early 2100's to find a way to travel through time, and last week, they believed they have found that way."  
  
"Sir? What does this have to do with me assembling a team?"  
  
"We've located files from Earth, of some of the greatest fighters of all time. Police officers, criminals, bounty hunters, "super-heroes"...we want you to travel through time, find these people, explain what is happening in our time, and convince them to assist us."  
  
The Master Chief was speechless.  
  
"I know it may sound awkward, but you must do this. All of the people we've suggested have been close to our time, they may have difficulty believing you, but it's worth a shot." The Admiral said, as he dropped a stack of folders on his desk. "Chief, when you're ready to go, please go to Sector M- 9 for instructions how to travel through time without damaging your suit, or yourself. You are dismissed. When you return with as many of the suggested subjects as possible, you will give them further instructions to get them suited up and prepared for battle. You are dismissed."  
  
The Master Chief stood up, walked toward the desks and took the file folders. He nodded at the Admiral, and then walked out. He began to glace through the files, which contained information and photos about the subjects. He walked back to his headquarters and got prepared. He picked up a pistol, loaded it, cocked it and placed it on his holster. He picked up 6 extra clips and placed it next to the pistol on his holster. He grabbed four fragmentation grenades, and an Assault rifle. He loaded the rifle and put away an extra five clips. Cortana then popped up as a holograph.  
  
"You think this is a good idea?" she asked him.  
  
"No, I don't. But orders are orders." He answered.  
  
"The Admiral told me that I would be going with you." Cortana said.  
  
"I could use all the help I can get. That's why they're sending me on this ridiculous mission in the first place."  
  
"Hey, it isn't so bad. Look at the bright side, you get to go back through time!" she said, ecstatically.  
  
"I'm not sure if it's a good idea for you to come with me, the time warp may damage my suit, and you."  
  
"Nonsense, I'm coming." She snapped back.  
  
He didn't waste time arguing with her. The fact was that he knew that he needed her there to help him out. "Well, I'm all packed. You ready?"  
  
Cortana smiled at him. "Yank me."  
  
He grabbed Cortana's chip and inserted it into his helmet. When he arrived at Sector M-9, a scientist welcomed. "Master Chief, it's an honor."  
  
The Chief nodded. "How does this thing work?"  
  
"It's not as complicated as it works. All you have to do is step inside and punch in a year and a location. When you arrive to your destination, you have to bring the subject back here before continuing on. There is not enough room in the pod for more than three people. Also, once the door closes, do not open until you reach your destination. Time Travel is very dangerous and can cause permanent damage to your shields or your MJOLNIR armor if you are directly exposed to the energy waves that permit time travel."  
  
"Gotcha." The chief replied. The chief looked through the files. He placed them on a shelf inside the pod.  
  
"Chief, may I suggest you go from the person who is in the closest time period to the one who is in the farthest? It may be easier to keep track that way." Cortana stated.  
  
"Ok...hmmm..." the chief studied over the files. "According to this, one subject lives in the year 2205, four live in 2003, one lives in 1986 and one lives in 1000. The Admiral also says that he had the scientists program a comm. Channel inside the pod so he can speak to us in there, just in case he finds another subject or has important news regarding the Covenant."  
  
"Okay, let's go to 2205 first. What is the subject's name?" Cortana asked.  
  
The chief gave a little smirk when beside gender, there was an F. "Samus Aran." 


	2. The Bounty Hunter

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 2: The Bounty Hunter  
  
The Chief took a step inside of the pod. He typed in the year 2205, and he looked down to the file for a location.  
  
"Planet Zebes? Where the hell is that?" Master Chief asked Cortana.  
  
"...According to my research, Planet Zebes no longer exists. When it did exist, however, it was located in the constellation Lyria. It was used as a weapons facility."  
  
The chief punched in Planet Zebes under location.  
  
"All ready to go?" one of the scientists asked.  
  
The chief nodded at him, slid the door shut, and secured it. The pod was about as big as a small bathroom. The scientist had told him that it couldn't hold more than three people, which is the equivalent of two Spartans. The chief hit the big red button. A buzzing noise started up, the pod began to shake. All of a sudden, the chief was looking out the window to see purple waves all around the pod. It felt as if the pod was moving at an incredibly fast speed, the chief grabbed onto a ledge inside the pod to stay up.  
  
"Amazing..." Cortana said, as she gazed at the purple waves flowing outside the window of the pod.  
  
The Years counted down until they eventually reached 2205. The door slid open; smoke still coming off of the pod itself. The Master Chief stepped onto the alien ground. He looked around curiously.  
  
"The subject is exactly 456.65 Feet north 23 degrees of west." Cortana stated.  
  
"Well, that helps." The chief replied.  
  
"Just, go there." Cortana said frustrated, lighting up a pathway on his heads up display.  
  
"Thank you," he said with a grin on his face.  
  
The chief carefully followed the pathway Cortana had placed on his visor. After chopping through plants and walking through a couple of streams, he came to some kind of structure in the very green environment.  
  
"According to my calculations, the subject is inside of that structure." Cortana said.  
  
The Chief walked inside the huge building. Just as he stepped in, alarms were raised and red lights began to flash. But the Master Chief did not trip the alarms.  
  
"Chief, the subject is heading in our direction, fast!" Cortana yelled out.  
  
All of a sudden, a door opened that was up ahead of the chief and this, what appeared to be a humanoid robot leaped out of the door, looking back. It ran head first into the chief and they both tumbled down. The being had red and orange shining armor. The armor was not that different of a Spartan's. He was surprised how the armor looked like in this time. But suddenly, the being leaped on top of the Master Chief and pointed the cannon which seemed to be attached to it's arm to the Master Chief.  
  
"Hey, hey," the Chief said, raising his arms, "take it easy."  
  
A mechanical voice came from the being as it pressed the cannon to the Chief's head. "Who are you?"  
  
"You Samus?" asked the Chief.  
  
"Who wants to know?" the voice responded.  
  
An explosion knocked the being to the floor again.  
  
"No time to explain, you should come with me!" The chief yelled over the loud crashes.  
  
"Sorry, I've got my own ride." Responded the being, pointing at this huge yellow starship parked outside the structure.  
  
"Funny...I should have seen that on the way in..."The chief said to himself.  
  
Suddenly, a huge explosion caused the starship to tumble over into a gorge.  
  
The chief looked at the being, who looked stunned.  
  
"...you were saying?" The chief said. Another explosion rattled the ground. "Come on, there's no time!" The chief lead the being to the pod. "Go on, get in!"  
  
The being flicked a switch on its helmet. A very clear female voice came from the being. "How do I know that I can trust you?" she asked.  
  
"Do you really have a choice right now? Come on, let's go!"  
  
The two of them leapt into the pod. The Chief quickly set the coordinates back to Sector M-9, as the spot where the pod had been standing milliseconds ago was blown to bits.  
  
"So what's the deal?" she asked.  
  
"The future needs your help, that's the deal." The chief responded.  
  
"...The future? What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean that in the future, which to you is where I am from, needs your help in the fight against an alien race who is trying to wipe out all humans."  
  
"How did you find me?" she asked.  
  
"I was given a list of experienced fighters from a superior officer to find them using time travel and bring them to the future to help us in the war against the Covenant. You happened to be at the top of the list."  
  
"Really?" she asked.  
  
"Don't be so modest. You were a bit sloppy out there." The chief said, teasing.  
  
"Well, who exactly are you?"  
  
"I'm the Master Chief and the only remaining Spartan left in the UNSC."  
  
"Uh-huh..." Samus said.  
  
The pod came to a halt to where it had first left. Samus walked out.  
  
"These guys will explain everything to you. Until I get back, listen to these guys." The chief said, pointing at the multiple scientists in Sector M-9.  
  
"Well done, chief! I think she likes you..." Cortana said. The Chief almost forgot that she was there.  
  
"Who's next?"  
  
"Well, there's four subjects located in the year 2003..."  
  
"Who are they?"  
  
"In Los Angeles, Officer Nick Kang. In Grant City, Officer Jack Slate. In Moscow, the subject is only known as Agent 47. In New York, the subject is Detective Max Payne." 


	3. The Renegade Cops

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 3: Renegade Cops  
  
"We're off to L. A. 2003." The chief said to the head scientist. He slid the door shut, and punched in the co-ordinates.  
  
As the pod vanished, Samus thought, 'Did I really turn out to be that good?'  
  
The pod sizzled as it came to a stop in the middle of a street. There were easily over one hundred people, staring in awe at the occurrence. The chief stepped outside, right into the eyes of the unwanted attention. People ran inside buildings, some of them pulled out their cell phones.  
  
"Hmm...where to begin?" The chief asked himself.  
  
Within a few seconds, police cars rushed down the road. They came to a halt about 15 feet away from the pod. The police officers leapt out of the car and drew their pistols at the chief.  
  
"Good God, what is that?" one cop asked another.  
  
"I have no idea, but whatever it is, it ain't gonna be fuckin' good." The other cop responded.  
  
"Drop your weapons, now!" one cop said into a loudspeaker. The chief hadn't realized he had his assault rifle slung over his back and his pistol locked in his holster. The chief ignored them.  
  
"Where is Officer Nick Kang!" The chief yelled back.  
  
"Drop your weapons!"  
  
"Bring me Officer Nick Kang!"  
  
The police whispered to each other. They decided not to open fire and to call Officer Kang on the radio.  
  
"Uh...Officer Kang. There's some guy in what looks to be a spacesuit who is requesting your presence at the intersection at 83rd and Broadway."  
  
The cops kept their guns on the Chief. He sighed, with annoyance, because they had no idea what was going on. Well, neither did Kang. But he would soon find out. Kang's convertible rolled down the road. The chief reached into his pod and pulled out his file. Yea, it was him all right. Kang pulled up and hopped over the convertible door. Kang pulled out his .44 Magnum with its attachable flashlight and laser sighting.  
  
"You must be the space man."  
  
"I don't see any others."  
  
"What do you want with me?" Kang cocked his gun.  
  
"The future needs your help."  
  
"Fuck off," Kang said.  
  
"Go ahead, shoot." Said the chief.  
  
Kang looked at him, and tilted his head, confused. "What exactly do you mean, the future?"  
  
"I came from the year 2552. I am trying to assemble a team to fight against the only threat to the survival of mankind, an alien race called The Covenant. My orders are to travel through time and gather the best of the best. You happen to be one of them."  
  
"What if I don't believe you?" Kang looked at him, still having his gun fixed on the Master Chief.  
  
The Chief threw Kang's folder to him. Kang grabbed it and looked at it. "Holy shit...date of death?" Kang looked, baffled.  
  
"What's it gonna be?"  
  
Kang looked down at the folder. Then he looked at the chief. He lowered his gun and walked towards the chief.  
  
"Officer Kang!" one of the cops yelled. "What are you doing?!"  
  
"Sorry boys, I gotta go on a little field trip." Kang said.  
  
"In there," the chief said, and motioned his head toward the pod.  
  
"You're not even gonna buy me a drink first?" Kang said, smiling, and walked into the pod. The chief walked back in the pod and slid the door shut.  
  
"Officer Kang!" one of the cops yelled. But they were gone.  
  
"One more trip we have to make before going back to my time." The chief said, turning to Nick.  
  
"Really? Where's that?"  
  
"Grant City, to pick up Officer Jack Slate."  
  
"Grant City?"  
  
"That's what it says on the file."  
  
In a flash, the pod was sizzling on the streets of Grant City. But it wasn't the same as LA, the streets were nearly abandoned. Only about one or two homeless people saw the flash, but they didn't seem to care that much.  
  
"Geez, could it get anymore glum than this?" Nick said.  
  
"Let me guess. You're gonna be the guy on the team who makes all those smart sarcastic things to say, right?"  
  
"Chief, I'm shocked that you look at me that way! I take my job as professional as any...Jesus! Look at the size of that rat! It's as big as a god damned raccoon!"  
  
The chief rolled his eyes, of course Nick couldn't see because he had his helmet on. "Kang, that is a raccoon."  
  
"Yeah, I was gonna say..." Kang trailed off.  
  
"How the hell are we gonna find Slate?"  
  
Just that second, Jack Slate was on patrol and saw the two men...well, one man, one spaceman. He pulled over and radioed in. "Yeah, this is officer Slate, I have a 512 in progress, man in space suit blocking road with time machine, over. Do you copy?"  
  
"Copy that, Slate. Proceed with Caution."  
  
Slate pulled out his pistol and turned the corner to face the two men. "Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air or I'll shoot."  
  
The chief reached in the pod to grab Slate's file. Slate cocked his pistol. "Put you're hands in the air now!" His K-9 companion Shadow jumped out the car window and growled at the chief.  
  
"Holy shit." Kang said, looking at the huge husky.  
  
"Yeah, it's him."  
  
"Jack Slate?" asked Kang.  
  
"Who the hell are you?"  
  
"No time to explain," Kang said, "The future needs you or something..."  
  
"I am the Master Chief of the UNSC. I come from the year 2552 and I was sent through time to assemble a team to fight the alien race which threatens the survival of mankind."  
  
"Fuck off." Jack Slate said, still holding his gun at the Chief.  
  
"Go ahead, shoot him." Kang said.  
  
"Who the hell are you?!" Slate asked.  
  
"Officer Nick Kang, LAPD."  
  
"LAPD? The hell are you doing all the way over here?"  
  
"You see, the chief here has time travel machine which can also go wherever he wants so we're here to pick you up."  
  
"Why me?" Slate asked.  
  
"Because," the chief said, "You're on the list of suggested subjects that will help save the future."  
  
"Well, take me off the list."  
  
"The future of mankind is depending on you."  
  
"How do I know this is all true?"  
  
The chief threw him his file. Slate glanced at it, his eyes widened. "This...is my future? Date of death August 30th 2003? KIA?"  
  
"You can change your future. But first, help me change mine."  
  
"This all seems, unbelievable." Slate said.  
  
"Tell me about it," Kang said.  
  
Slate tossed the folder back to the Master Chief. "God damn it," Slate said, putting his gun back in his holster, "Let's go."  
  
Shadow whimpered. "Sorry boy, I'll radio the boys to tell them to pick you up. I gotta go away for a while." The dog jumped back into the car and Jack radioed. He then went back to the Chief and Slate. They all went inside the pod, and before they knew it, they were back in Sector M-9.  
  
"What took you so long?" Samus was their, with her hand on her hip. Her helmet was off. Her long blonde hair flowed down the back of her suit. Her blue eyes looked at the three men.  
  
All three men's eyes shot open. Of course, you couldn't see the chief's eyes because of his helmet.  
  
"Boys, meet Samus. She's on the team." The chief said.  
  
"Pleased to meet you," Kang said with a smile.  
  
"As am I." Slate said. The two of them gave each other a quick glance then turned their attention back to Samus.  
  
"You two stay here, I have two more subjects to pick up in 2003. Hey doc, will you suit these guys up and show them the weapons we have?" The Chief asked the head scientist in charge. His name was Dr. Dufraime, but everyone called him Dr. D, or simply Doc.  
  
"Certainly, Master Chief, sir. Come with me." He motioned toward Nick and Jack.  
  
Samus watched the two men walk off to the armory. She laughed at the chief after they were out of sight. "Unbelievable! They've been here for 5 minutes and they're gockin' all over me already."  
  
"Looks like you're going to have some fun with this." The chief said. Samus smiled. "I'm off. Watch those two for me, will ya?"  
  
Samus nodded. The chief stepped inside the pod. 


	4. The Hitman

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Characters in this story.  
  
A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys...and the suggestions. But, if a character that you want in this fanfic isn't in here, don't flame me. I'm using characters I'm familiar with, or ones that I think would be appropriate for this fic. I don't own a PS2, so there's a less chance of you seeing characters that are only on PS2 in this fic. (I have Gamecube, Xbox, N64, Super Nintendo, the list goes on)  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 4: The Hitman  
  
The Master Chief set the co-ordinates on the pod to Moscow, Russia in 2003. There was a flash of light in the room, causing Samus to close her eyes and look away. When she looked back, the pod was gone.  
  
The Chief stepped out onto the snowy ground of Moscow. He had no idea how to find this subject, he didn't even have a complete name, the only given title was Agent 47. In front of him stood a building, it was most likely a government building. People in the streets began to notice the Master Chief, and ran off. He looked at Agent 47's file. The picture that was given was not very descriptive. A bald, white male, with no major facial features. The chief decided to look around. All of a sudden, a gunshot was heard. The chief looked up. Someone had fired a rifle at a man inside the government building. It came from the adjacent building. He caught a glimpse of the shooter - he was a bald, white male.  
  
The chief ran up to the building where he saw the subject. As the chief got to the back door, the subject burst out and flew right into the chief. The subject looked at the chief, confused. He pulled out a 9mm pistol and shot the chief, three times. The bullets just bounced off his MJOLNIR armor.  
  
"Please, don't do that." The chief said, calmly.  
  
"Who the hell are you?"  
  
"I am the Master Chief of the UNSC. I've come to take you to the future to help save the fate--" The chief was cut off by the sound of Russian obscenities. Three guards turned the corner, yelled and pointed at Agent 47. He bolted in the other direction, the chief followed him. When they got behind a dumpster, the chief spoke.  
  
"Listen, you're Agent 47, right?"  
  
"How did you know that?"  
  
"I'm from the future. I've been sent back to bring you to the future to help mankind!"  
  
"Why my help?"  
  
"Because..." the chief said, frustrated, "You turn out to be one of the greatest gunmen in all time. Here, take a look at your file."  
  
The chief handed 47's folder over to him. He looked over it in disbelief, just as all the other did. The Russians had found them. Just before 47 could shoot them, the Master Chief grasped his assault rifle and pumped the three guards full of bullets.  
  
"We don't have much time before more of them come. Are you coming with me or not?!" The chief asked.  
  
"This is all so...insane."  
  
"I know. But you have to trust me!"  
  
"Alright, I'll help you."  
  
"Let's go!" The two of them ran to the pod. The chief set co-ordinates for New York City.  
  
Meanwhile back at Sector M-9, the boys were trying to get to know Samus a little better.  
  
"So, Samus, what year are you from?" Nick asked.  
  
"2205, you?"  
  
"I'm from 2003." Jack quickly answered.  
  
"Yeah, me too." Nick said.  
  
"Ok guys, time to show you the guns!" Doc yelled.  
  
"Right now???" Both Jack and Nick asked in unison.  
  
"Come on, let's go." The doc said, leading them to the armory. He picked up a pistol. "This here, is the M6D, a much more advanced pistol than of those in your time."  
  
Jack and Nick both removed their pistols from their holsters, tossed them aside, and replaced them with M6Ds.  
  
"It's loaded with twelve armor-piercing bullets, and has a 2x scope. Very lightweight, easy to carry around." The doc finished up.  
  
Jack and Nick cocked their guns and held them up.  
  
"Nice..." they both said, once again, in unison. Samus rolled her eyes at them.  
  
"These here are the MA5B Assault Rifle and the M90 Shotgun. They are both very powerful. The Assault Rifle carries sixty bullets per clip, armor piercing, of course. Good for heavy combat. The shotgun fires multiple rounds with a capacity of twelve rounds. Extremely powerful at a close range. It could take out a pack of Flood with a single shot."  
  
"Flood? What's that?" Jack asked.  
  
"The Flood were a species we ran into on Halo. A parasitic alien race that would devour both humans and covenant alike. We have reason to believe they were wiped out after Halo was destroyed."  
  
"Ahh..." Nick said.  
  
Jack hoisted up the assault rifle and Nick picked up the shotgun. They both found it to be a bit heavy.  
  
"Don't worry, as soon as you get suited up, it won't feel as heavy as they do now." The doc explained.  
  
"Suited up?" Jack asked, nervously.  
  
"Of course. To be in the dangerous vacuum of space, you must be properly suited and equipped." The doc pushed a button to reveal the normal UNSC Marine suit.  
  
"Holy Shit!" Nick exclaimed, "That's awesome!" He put his hands up on the glass like a little kid looking into the window of a toy store.  
  
Meanwhile, the Master Chief an Agent 47 arrived in a New York slum area.  
  
"Who are we looking for in New York?" 47 asked.  
  
"Detective Max Payne." 


	5. The Man With Nothing to Lose

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the games that they come from that are in the story. (Halo, The Master Chief, Cortana, Super Metroid, Samus, True Crime: Streets of LA, Nick Kang, Dead to Rights, Jack Slate, Hitman, Agent 47, Max Payne...so far...)  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 5: The Man With Nothing To Lose  
  
The Chief ambiguously pulled out Max Payne's file folder. There was a clear picture of him. There was also some information about him...information that disturbed the Master Chief dearly. He read his file.  
  
"Max Payne's wife and baby daughter were murdered three years ago." The chief said.  
  
"Dear God..." 47 answered, "How come we need his help?"  
  
"After it happened, he went on a crusade, killing all of his former partners in crime. He killed over 25 major criminals in the city single- handedly. I think that proves it."  
  
"Well, where do we start looking?"  
  
The chief noticed that the pod has come to a halt very close to a police station. The chief didn't feel like getting yelled at again, so he threw his weapons into the pod. He then proceeded to the police station. As the chief and 47 swung through the doors, they caught some attention. The chief walked to the front desk, where an officer was reading a magazine.  
  
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Detective Max Payne."  
  
The officer kept his eyes on the magazine. "Sorry he's on duty, you'll have to wait till he gets back."  
  
"Can you tell me where he's patrolling?"  
  
"Hey buddy," the cop said, as he closed his magazine, "Like I said, you'll ha-holy shit!" the cop looked up at the MC. "Umm...he's patrolling near the Apollo...in Harlem." The officer replied, with a nervous tone to his voice.  
  
"Thank you, let's go." He said, turning to 47.  
  
The two of them walked out of the police station. The chief went back to the pod, picked up his guns and climbed inside the pod.  
  
"Wait, what are you doing?" 47 asked.  
  
"Do you really want to walk all the way to Harlem?"  
  
"I see..." 47 said, and climbed in the pod. The chief inputted a little more specific co-ordinate: Harlem, New York. They arrived on the street adjacent to the Apollo.  
  
"Now, all we have to do is find him." The chief stated. Just that moment, the chief noticed that a mugger was robbing a woman of her purse. He held her at gunpoint, and the woman gave him her purse. The man ran off. The chief chased him.  
  
"What are you doing now?" 47 asked.  
  
"Stay there!" the Master Chief yelled back. The Chief ran after the crook. Max Payne was in his car patrolling when he noticed a man with a purse running away from a man with a spacesuit. He jumped out of his car. "Hold it!" he said, pulling out his trusty Beretta 9mm pistol. But the both of them continued to run. The chief caught up to the felon with easy, grabbed him from behind and threw whim to the ground. Max wasn't too far behind. When he noticed the crook was on the ground, the pulled out his handcuffs, but still had his gun fixed on the Chief. He cuffed the felon, then turned his full attention to the Chief.  
  
"Put you hands up." Payne said.  
  
"Are you Detective Max Payne?"  
  
"PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" Max yelled.  
  
"Go ahead," 47's voice came from behind, "Shoot him. See what happens."  
  
Max squinted his eyes and looked at the chief. He could tell there was something different about this guy. "Who the hell are you guys? What do you want?"  
  
"I'm the Master Chief of the UNSC. This is Agent 47. I come from the future to recruit you for the team that will help save the fate of mankind."  
  
Max would have laughed, it he had remembered how. "Bullshit, put you're hands up I'm bringing you in."  
  
The woman whose purse was stolen finally caught up to the men. "Wait!" she yelled, huffing and puffing. "This man did nothing wrong. He chased this man who stole his purse. Thank you." She said to the Master Chief. He nodded. She picked up her purse.  
  
"Are you alright, mam?" Max asked her.  
  
"I'm fine, I'll be on my way. Thanks again." The woman walked off.  
  
"Detective Max Payne. The future needs your help, to save mankind."  
  
"He's telling the truth. We arrived in a time traveling machine." 47 piped up.  
  
Max lowered his firearm. "What exactly kind of enemy is threatening mankind?"  
  
"They are an alien race known as the Covenant. Their only purpose is to end all human life. If you're still having trouble believing me, I can show you the file that we recovered from earth. It contains your entire history, including everything after this moment...and you're death." The Master Chief held out the file folder.  
  
Max waved it aside. "I'd rather not know."  
  
"So, are you coming with us?" 47 asked.  
  
"Why not, I've got nothing to lose. I've already lost everything."  
  
The MC and 47 knew what he was talking about. They headed back to the pod, and the Master Chief set his co-ordinates for UNSC HQ Sector M-9, 2552.  
  
47 leaned over and whispered into the chief's ear. "Hey, sorry about shooting you before."  
  
The chief snickered. Of course, neither 47 nor Max could see, because of his helmet.  
  
When they arrived back at Sector M-9, they found Samus sitting down checking her arm cannon. Out of the other room, Nick and Jack walked out with UNSC suits. Samus began to laugh hysterically.  
  
"What?" Jack asked, "I think they're pretty cool."  
  
"Team," the Master Chief spoke, "This is Agent 47 and Detective Max Payne. Boys, meet Samus Aran, Officer Nick Kang and Officer Jack Slate." They all nodded as a greeting to one another. "Doc, will you tell these guys what we're up against and show them our weapons and suits."  
  
"Sure thing, Master Chief, sir. Agent 47, Detective Payne, please follow me." Dr. Dufraime said, motioning for the two to follow.  
  
"Chief!" one of the scientists said, "Admiral Whitaker's on the phone for you, he says it's urgent!"  
  
The chief ran to the phone. "Sir?"  
  
"Master Chief," the Admiral started, "There's a slight problem. During the time you were recruiting members of your team, the Covenant managed to hijack and take control of a UNSC ship. The ship contained data about the time travel project. It had enough information on the ship for the Covenant to find out how to time travel on their own, to assume that they're not as stupid as we think they are. They also had a copy of our intended subjects. I'm assuming that the Covenant will try to get to the rest of them first. Go as fast as you can to get the rest of the subjects. Also, while you were gone, I looked up a few more. I figured that we could use as much help as we can get. I sent them directly to the pod. Please, hurry Master Chief."  
  
The chief ran back to his pod. He found a few new files, one contained just the name "Mega Man". He still had two more subjects to pick up, one in 1986, the other in 1000. He picked up a file. "Year: 1986. Name: Tommy Vercetti." 


	6. The Criminal

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, or the games that they came from.  
  
A/N: 12 reviews already? Thanks guys. Let me tell you all that I take all suggestions into consideration, but I only put the ones that I feel are appropriate for this fic. Thanks to all reviewers.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 6: The Criminal  
  
The Master Chief inputted the co-ordinates into the pod. 1986, Vice City, Florida. His subject was Tommy Vercetti, known drug dealer, auto thief and murderer. The only reason why Vercetti was on the list is because of the way he handles a gun. The Master Chief's pod came to a rest outside the Malibu club, who was owned by Vercetti himself. The chief barged in, finding many people enjoying themselves at the club. The second he stepped through the doors, though, all eyes were on him.  
  
"I'm looking for Tommy Vercetti." The chief stated clearly.  
  
Three suits with their fists readied with brass knuckles approached him. "Who's lookin' for him?" the one in the middle piped up.  
  
"I've got a job for him."  
  
"Really? Well the boss don't do jobs anymore. He works for himself now." He suit replied back. The chief noticed his poor grammar.  
  
"What if this job was to save the human race?"  
  
"What are you some kinda joker? Get that fuckin metal piece of shit outta here before the cops get here."  
  
"I'm not leaving till I speak to Tommy Vercetti." The chief firmly stated.  
  
"Oh, I have a feeling you will." One of the suits snapped back, lunged foreward and struck the chief with the brass knuckles on his helmet. It didn't even leave a scratch on him. Actually, it was the thug's hand what was bleeding.  
  
"What the fuck?" asked another suit. He pulled out a pistol and was about to fire.  
  
"No, wait!" one of the people dancing piped up. He stepped through the crowd. He was wearing a turquoise Hawaiian shirt with blue denim jeans. "I'm Tommy Vercetti. What exactly is it that you want."  
  
"I want you, to do one final job. For mankind."  
  
"I dunno what the hell you're talkin' about."  
  
"I'm from the future. There are these God damned aliens who are trying to wipe out the human race. I was sent through time to make a team against them. I want you on that team."  
  
"I see...why me?"  
  
"I got your folder with me. You turn out to be quite the gunman. We could use you on the team."  
  
"Exactly what year are you from?"  
  
"2552."  
  
"Wow, that's a ways away from here."  
  
"You don't believe me, do you."  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Come outside, check my time travel machine."  
  
"Alright..."  
  
The Chief and Tommy stepped outside. The chief showed him the pod. The chief then showed Tommy his folder. Tommy read over the folder in disbelief, just as everyone else had.  
  
"How did you find out all this shit about me?"  
  
"Where I'm from, you've been dead for 200 years."  
  
"Will I get paid for this?" he asked with a grin.  
  
"Isn't the fact that you helped save the human race enough?" The Master Chief asked.  
  
"Well, I'll think about it. Let's get going." Tommy answered.  
  
The Chief was happy that he decided to go along. The two of them got in the pod, and the Chief reset it to Sector M-9. When they arrived back, the Chief noticed that Agent 47 and Max Payne were both suited up as well. 47 hoisted an S2 AM Sniper Rifle over his shoulder, while Max held two M6D Pistols in either hand.  
  
"Team, meet Tommy Vercetti."  
  
Tommy smiled at them, his white teeth sparkling.  
  
"Doc, take him. He's got a lot to learn."  
  
"You got that right," Samus added, smiling.  
  
"Well, I'll go get the subject from 1000, then I'll try to get the one the Admiral sent late. Cortana, you still with me?"  
  
There was no response.  
  
"Cortana?!"  
  
"Huh? Oh sorry chief. I was just...analyzing some data." She finally responded.  
  
"Sure you were. Are you ready to go way into the past?"  
  
"All ready. 1000, here we come!" 


	7. The Hero

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or the games that they come from.  
  
"Mr. Vercetti, let me begin by explaining to you what is exactly going on." Dr. Dufraime began to speak right after the Master Chief had left.  
  
"Oh great, he's gonna tell the story again." Nick said.  
  
"You see, the human race has been fighting against this alien race, who call themselves the Covenant. So far, their only know purpose is to kill all human beings and destroy earth. They are superior to us in almost every way, strength, intelligence, speed, quite possible the only advantage that we have on them are our powerful weapons. Speaking of which, let me show you them."  
  
The Doc showed Tommy all the guns, but he didn't look impressed.  
  
"Doc, do you know what I did back in Vice City? I caused havoc! I need something that can cause a hell of a lot of havoc."  
  
"Maybe this will help you, Mr. Vercetti."  
  
The Doc pushed a button which caused a panel in the wall to flip, revealing its other side. Attached to it was an M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. Tommy's eyebrows flew up.  
  
"I'll take it!" Tommy tried to lift it up, but his face turned red.  
  
"Don't worry, Mr. Vercetti. One you are suited up it won't seem as heavy."  
  
"Good..." Tommy said, breathing heavily.  
  
Meanwhile in the other room...  
  
"Awesome dude! Do it again!" Kang asked, repeatedly. "Come on, please!"  
  
"Yeah man, that was amazing!" Jack backed up. "Seriously, do it again!"  
  
Max rolled his eyes. "Fine. One more time." Max then pulled out his pistols and dived backward. As he did so, all time seemed to have slowed down. It looked like Max was trapped in mid-air for an eternity. When he finally came back down to the ground, he flung himself back to his feet.  
  
"That's amazing! How can you do that?" Samus asked.  
  
"It's called Bullet Time. I just think that I'm going really slowly, and then, it just happens."  
  
"How long have you been able to do it?" Nick asked.  
  
Max looked down. "Since...my wife died..."  
  
"Oh..." Nick said, "Sorry man."  
  
Just then the Doc rushed in with a boxful of grenades. "Here are the frag grenades. They work like any normal grenade from your times. Pull the pin, chuck it, then BOOM!" The Doc smiled. Everyone picked up three or for and found a place to put them on their suit.  
  
The pod sizzled as it came to a halt in the middle of a tiny village. Everything seemed so peaceful to the Master Chief, he had never seen anything like it. He had always lived through a time where there was always something to worry about. These people, had no worries whatsoever. He walked into a building which had a sign on the outside which read "Truce Inn." All of the townsfolk turned their heads to see the huge cyborg. He walked to the front desk. "I'm looking for..." The chief glanced down to the file. He saw that the subject was only about 18 years old. He had crazy red hair he looked for a name. "...Crono. Where can I find him?"  
  
The waitress responded nervously "T-two house down fr-from here..."  
  
The chief nodded at her and walked out the door. He continued till he reached the house. He knocked on the door, a woman answered. "Oh hello, are you one of Crono's friends?" The woman didn't seem frightened at all, which confused the Master Chief.  
  
"Actually, no. I just need to speak with him."  
  
"Oh alright, come on in." She lead him inside. "CRONO! YOU HAVE A VISITOR!" she yelled up the stairs. "Would you like some cocoa?"  
  
"Umm...no thanks." The chief responded.  
  
The boy flew down the down the stairs, with a big smile on his face. He looked at the Master Chief.  
  
"Crono?" he asked. The boy nodded. "I come from the future, the year 2552. I am the Master Chief of the UNSC and I am in charge of assembling a team to help fight an alien race called the Covenant who are trying to wipe on Mankind. According to your file, you defeated a creature called Lavos to save the world right?" The boy nodded again.  
  
"Not again, Crono! Enough of this time travel business! Can't you just live like a normal boy for once?" his mother asked, frustrated.  
  
Crono gave a look to his mother, the I-have-to-do-this-no-matter-what kind of look.  
  
The Master Chief looked at his mother. "Is he a mute?"  
  
"No...he just prefers not to talk unless there is something extremely important to say."  
  
Crono then ran upstairs. He came back down with a huge sword. The chief had never seen anything like it before. The sword shined all of the colors of the rainbow. The, he smiled again. He went up to his mother, and whispered something in her ear.  
  
"Ok Crono, I'll tell them. Don't worry. Be careful!"  
  
The Chief lead Crono back to the pod. "So, you've traveled through time before?"  
  
Crono gave the Chief the oh-yeah-dozens-of-times look.  
  
"I see..."  
  
The two of them got back to the pod and the Chief set the co-ordinates back to Sector M-9.  
  
"Welcome back, chief. I've got more news from the Admiral," Dr. Dufraime said, and handed the chief a file folder.  
  
"Who's this kid?" Tommy asked, all suited up and brought up to speed on what the hell is going on. Crono stuck out his hand to shake it.  
  
"His name's Crono...and he doesn't speak." The Chief said. Tommy shook his hand back.  
  
"Nice sword kid, you know how to use it?" Jack asked.  
  
Crono drew his sword from his sheath, so all of the team members could see the shine of the sword. They all looked in awe. The chief was looking through the folder. It looked like the Malibu club back in Vice City was destroyed when the Covenant got there a little too late. The chief thought what would happen to the peaceful Truce Village if the Covenant went their next. He didn't want to think about what would happen, he didn't want Crono to either, so he didn't show him. Also, the Covenant had hit their backup subject, Mega Man.  
  
"Chief," Cortana said, "I'm getting a transmission from the Admiral. He says we need one more member to complete out team of eight. He also said he has the perfect one."  
  
"Cortana, who is it?" 


	8. The Captain

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.  
  
A/N: Thanks to everyone for your suggestions in team members. I was considering putting in Alex D, Turok or Kain as the final member, but someone brought to my attention a hero that I overlooked.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 8: The Captain  
  
Cortana read the file through her brain. "His name is Captain Jim Raynor."  
  
"I see...and what makes this guy one of the Best of the Best?"  
  
"Captain Raynor was in command of the band of humans which ultimately lead to the demise of the Zerg, another alien race who has been far wiped out since the battles in the early 2300's. Raynor, with the help of his marines and members of another alien race called the Protoss defeated the Zerg on their home planet. Captain Raynor won multiple awards for his courageous actions."  
  
"At least he has experience in fighting big, ugly aliens."  
  
"Yes...he's really a veteran in that field."  
  
"Let's go pick him up. Where can we find him?"  
  
"Let's see...the date that was given to us was 2309, which is the year the battles against the Zerg were over. The location is in Washington DC, following one of his award ceremonies."  
  
"Let's go crash the party."  
  
The chief climbed into the pod and set the co-ordinates. When he arrived, he was in the middle of a field behind a huge building. A few people on the sidewalk noticed his arrival, but didn't seem to care that much.  
  
"Captain Raynor should be inside that building, one of the award ceremonies just finished by the looks of it." Cortana stated.  
  
Hover cars seemed to be leaving the lot. The chief approached the front door of the building, where a man in a tux was standing.  
  
"I need to see Captain Jim Raynor, it's extremely urgent." The chief spoke to the man.  
  
The man in the tux looked at him. "Certainly sir, follow me."  
  
The man in the tux led the MC to a back room where a man and woman were sitting down. The man looked exhausted. The chief pulled out the folder and took a look at the picture. It was Raynor all right.  
  
"Excuse me, Captain, this man wishes to speak to you. He said it is urgent."  
  
Raynor nodded and waved the man away.  
  
"Captain Jim Raynor," he started, as he shook out his hand, "pleased to meet you."  
  
The chief reached out and shook his hand. "Captain Raynor, I am the Master Chief of the UNSC..."  
  
"UNSC? Isn't that some high-tech army group?"  
  
"It was...well, it is. Right now. Can I speak to you in private?"  
  
"Sure." Raynor whispered something into the woman's ear and she ran off in the next room.  
  
"Captain Raynor, I know this may sound hard to believe, but I was sent from the future to recruit you for a team who will fight against the one alien race that threatens mankind's existence."  
  
Raynor chuckled. "You mean the Zerg? They're gone! I killed every last one of them myself, I made sure they were gone."  
  
"I'm afraid not. They're a much more advanced and stronger alien breed, they are called the Covenant."  
  
"Covenant? Never heard of them."  
  
"That's because they haven't found out that our race exists in your time. You are greatly needed as the last member on our team."  
  
"Sounds crazy. But I like you. I dunno why, but I do." Raynor said. He finished off a beer he had on the table. He picked up an extremely huge trophy. "You like that?"  
  
"I have a few of my own," the chief replied.  
  
"Well you should show me them sometime. But right now, I guess we got some aliens to kill." Raynor went into a different room. "Hang on a sec, I'll be right out." When he did get out, he was in a huge space-like suit, as big as the Master Chief's. It was a teal color. A huge chain gun was attached to one of the arms. "Let's go."  
  
Raynor and the chief went back to the pod. The chief punched in the co- ords. On the way, Raynor asked him a question.  
  
"What exactly are the Covenant like?"  
  
"Well, they are similar to the Zerg, they have structural society, rankings, and they're really ugly."  
  
"Fighting ugly aliens are my specialty." Raynor said.  
  
When they arrived back at Sector M-9, the chief introduced Raynor to everyone. Crono was now suited up, just like the others, except for Samus and Raynor of course who had their own suits to begin with.  
  
The Doc picked up the phone. "Yes, Admiral Whittaker please...Hello, Admiral? The team has been assembled. You might want to come down here."  
  
The team members were conversing shortly until the Admiral came down. The chief saluted him. The Admiral saluted back. He looked around at the team.  
  
"All right team, listen up. I don't care where, or when, you're from. I don't care what you've done, what you're doing, or what you are going to do. The only thing that I DO know, is that we're all here for the same cause. We must save the human race. Many of you are experienced in fighting, but not these aliens. You will learn their strengths, and their weaknesses, and you will use them in battle against them. You will learn that the four most powerful things when you're on the battlefield are Power, Stealth, Speed and Teamwork. Keep one eye on your motion sensors at all times. Put the visor down when entering a vacuum area. Reload frequently. Since the Chief has the most experience against the Covenant, he will be your team leader. Now I really don't care how you kill those bastards. You can shoot them, burn them, slice them up with that nice sword you got there, slow down time and pump them full of lead, shoot giant balls of energy at them, or you can throw them off a cliff. But your main objectives are as follows! One, protect Earth at all costs. Two, find the location of the Covenant home world, and three, go over there and wipe them out before they do it to us!!!"  
  
They all replied, "Sir, yes sir!", except for Crono, of course.  
  
The Admiral overlooked the entire team. "Nine companions. You shall be called the Fellowship of Earth!"  
  
"Ugh, sir?" The chief said. "We already have a team name. Team BOB."  
  
"Team BOB?"  
  
"Yes, for Best Of the Best."  
  
"Then shouldn't it be BOTB?"  
  
"Never mind, we're going to be called Team Omega."  
  
"Alright, Team Omega it is." The Admiral said. "The Doc is in the other room. He'll explain to you everything you need to know about fighting the Covenant, but if you need any pointers, just ask the chief here. Team Dismissed!" 


	9. The Team

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the story.  
  
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys! I never thought I'd get so many good reviews, with the occasional unwanted ethical one. This is a fanfic! Yeah, in real life the Master Chief would go back in time like a year before the Covenant attacked and tell the prez to make a billion nukes and blow them to hell, but that wouldn't be an interesting story.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 9: The Team  
  
The entire team was in the main room in Sector M-9. They were all sitting in chairs in front of a projection. All the team members were in their suits. The chief stood up and shut the lights and turned the projection on and it came up on a screen. A picture of a grunt appeared on the screen.  
  
"These little creatures are called Grunts. They are relatively weak. They can only breathe methane, which is why they carry tanks on their backs. Sometimes they wield Fuel Rod Cannons, which are extremely dangerous. Do not underestimate them." The chief stated.  
  
He clicked the button again. A picture of an Elite came up.  
  
"These are Elites. They are the main warriors of the Covenant. They have many different ranks, which are specialized in certain areas. Blue Elites are Minors. They have deadly aim with their firearms. Red Elites are Majors. They use tactics in battle to avoid confrontation or nail their target from behind. Gray Elites are used for stealth. They're usually camouflaged which makes them virtually invisible. While invisible, though, their energy shield is disabled. Black Elites are Special Ops. Their precise aim using plasma grenades is extremely deadly. Lastly, Golden Armored Elites are the Commanders. Their energy shield is twice as strong as any other Elite. Sometimes they wield an Energy Sword which will kill its target with any direct hit to the body, fortunately it is a melee attack only so it is short ranged. All Elites are extremely vulnerable to Shotguns, Sniper Rifles and their own plasma weapons will make short of their energy shield. Samus, I believe that your weapon will also do great damage to these energy shields."  
  
Samus nodded. The click of another button brought up a picture of a Jackal.  
  
"These creatures are called Jackals. They are also relatively weak, but they do carry around a portable energy shield, which reflect all of our human weapons. There are tiny spots on either side of the shield, which makes the user vulnerable. 47, if you're aim with that sniper is as good as you think it is, you should be able to sneak a bullet in that spot if you need to. They only wield plasma pistols and they usually charge them up before firing."  
  
47 smiled. The chief clicked the button again. It revealed a hunter. Some of the team members looked at the projection in shock. Some looked in fear.  
  
"This is a Covenant Hunter. They are the most dangerous type of Covenant, but consequently, they are also the most unintelligent. They carry fuel rod cannons which are attached to their arm, and the other arm bears a very powerful metallic shield which reflects everything. The worse part is that they are only found in pairs, Hunters are born together in what they are called Bond Brothers. There are little vulnerable parts on their body, one being in the back, one in the abdomen, and one right below the neck. Here, their orange flesh is revealed. A single shot of a pistol would put them down if hit their, but it's hard to get into a good position for it. Be very careful when facing hunters."  
  
The chief clicked it again. A picture of a Covenant Prophet popped up.  
  
"These are Prophets. They are the religious leaders of the Covenant who are rarely found in battle. They are as high up in the Covenant political body as an Elite. If one is spotted, kill it immediately, this will cause all Covenant under its control being left clueless."  
  
Another click on the button showed a picture of a Covenant Engineer.  
  
"These are engineers. They are harmless. There is a good chance that we may find ourselves on a Covenant Ship, if you se these guys, don't waste ammo. They can actually help repair your armor if damaged. They pose no threat whatsoever."  
  
All of the team members nodded.  
  
"Boy, they sure are an ugly bunch, aren't they?" Nick commented.  
  
"They sure are, that Elite thingy kinda reminds me of my ex girlfriend." Jack said.  
  
"Well, when are we gonna get the chance to face some of these bastards?" Raynor asked.  
  
"We leave for Santa Fe, New Mexico in one hour. The city is expecting an attack from the Covenant in four hours. I expect everyone to be ready in forty five minutes." The chief stated.  
  
The team scattered about the area. Max went to speak with the Doc to learn more about the Covenant. Nick and Jack followed Samus into the armory. Crono drew his sword and began practicing his skill. 47 went to the shooting range and used his sniper to pick off far away targets. Raynor went with him, and fed his chain gun some magazines and began to plow down targets in the shooting range. Tommy went in the bathroom for a smoke. All of a sudden, a bluish portal-like thing appeared in the middle of Sector M- 9! Everyone turned their heads to look at it.  
  
"What the hell is that!" The Doc yelled out. The Chief readied his pistol. Two figures were seen in the portal. As they stepped out, everyone was surprised. There were two girls, looked to be about 18 years old. One of them had long blonde hair and carried a crossbow on her back. The other had shorter purple hair which was covered by a cap and some goggled. She carried a pistol-like gun and a small mallet with her. The one with the blonde hair put her hands on her hips and yelled out.  
  
"Crono!!! Why didn't you tell me about this!" She smacked him on the head.  
  
"Yeah Crono!" the other one said, "You trying to have all the fun???"  
  
The other team members looked at him strangely. He motioned to the chief that it was ok. He led them to another room.  
  
"What are you two doing here?" he asked.  
  
"Crono! Your mom told us that you went into the future after some space guy went to your house! She overheard the year, 2552. We took a Gate. Why didn't you tell us!"  
  
"Because I didn't want you guys to get hurt! This is very dangerous. These aliens that I am about to fight, are far more powerful than any enemy we've fought before. They are pure killers. They are trying to wipe out the human race that's why I don't want you two involved!"  
  
"You still should have told us!" the one with the purple hair yelled.  
  
"Lucca, I'm sorry." He said, looking at her. He turned and faced the other girl. "Marle, please forgive me?"  
  
Marle smiled at him. "Oh, alright. But we want to help too!"  
  
"Please, If there is anything I would ever ask of you two, it is to stay out of this. You can stay in sector M-9. Please let me do this. I'll come back as soon as I can."  
  
Marle pouted. "Fine..."  
  
The rest of the time flew by. The chief poked his head into the room the three teens were in. "Crono, it's time to go."  
  
Crono nodded. The chief left.  
  
"Be careful, Crono." Lucca said, and punched him in the arm lightly.  
  
"I will."  
  
"Crono, you better come back to me, do you hear?" Marle asked.  
  
"Of course I will." Crono leaned in and the two of them kissed. After thy parted, he said "I'll see you guys soon. You can keep contact with me over the open radio that they keep in this sector to contact the team."  
  
Crono walked out. The rest of the team was ready to go. The chief spoke up. "Let's get a move on!"  
  
They all walked out of Sector M-9 into an air terminal a few sectors down. The team boarded a Pelican dropship and everyone strapped themselves in, since the Pelican stays open permanently for easier drop off. The pilot climbed in the cockpit and started it up. The whole team had all of their equipment ready - weapons, ammo, some carried medkits just in case. The pilot lifted the Pelican and they flew out into their air. Their destination was about an hour and a half away. No one spoke for an hour and fifteen minutes, until the pilot came on the intercom.  
  
"Master Chief, sir! Bad news! I've just got word from the military base in Santa Fe, the Covenant have begun to attack the city before they had planned! The city is in trouble!"  
  
"Get us there as quick as you can!" The chief yelled back.  
  
The team members began to look worried. None of them had any clue of what they were about to face. It was certain that not all of them would return to their homes. When they got closer to their destination, the team members looked outside the pelican and saw the city already in chaos from only about a half hour of battle. They landed the pelican closer to a band of Covenants that were attacking a building being defended by marines. It was the governor's mansion. The team readied their firearms and dropped out of the pelican.  
  
The Chief spoke on the team channel. "Let's show these aliens why we're the Best of the Best!" 


	10. The Confrontation

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, so you can't sue me :P  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 10: The Confrontation  
  
The team jumped out of the dropship. Tommy was lagging a bit, because he was carrying a rocket launcher and a flamethrower. He latched the launcher to the gun holster on his back and put the flamethrower in hand. Three grunts and a minor Elite noticed their unwelcomed guests. They turned way from the building and began firing at them. Raynor unleashed his chain gun, tearing through two of the grunts. Samus charged her weapon. Kang and Slate shot up the final grunt. Samus unleashed the energy stored and it flew into the Elite. It was knocked to the floor, and it's shields were gone. The chief pumped a shotgun shell into it. More Covenant began to rush, four grunts, the jackals, a minor elite and a major.  
  
"This is gonna be fun!" Vercetti yelled out.  
  
He stepped in front of the team and scorched the oncoming aliens. The grunts burnt up. The jackals used their shields to protect themselves. The minor elite got charred and ran off, flaring. The jackals charged their plasma pistols and fired. On hit Samus, and left a mark on her suit. Another hit the chief and wiped out his shields temporarily. Max dove in, using his bullet time ability, and slowly fired his pistols into the Elite. After three armor-piercing bullets, his shields went down, Max continued to fire. The bullets moved in slow-potion and drove themselves through the elite. When Max hit the floor, the elite grabbed it's stomach, which was bleeding, and fell to the floor. The chief chucked a grenade behind the two jackals, and sent the two creatures flying overtop of their heads.  
  
"We have to secure the governor's mansion. Let's help those marines at the door." The chief said. There were about six marines holding off a load of grunts, jackals, and some elites. Samus charged up her weapon again. Kang and Slate ran in, shooting off their shotgun and assault rifle. Kang managed to drop and elite and two grunts. Slate took out three jackals. Samus fired her weapon, releasing the energy right into the band of Covenant. It managed to knock off a few grunts and jackals. An elite turned a chucked a plasma grenade near the crew. There was enough time for the team to dodge out of the way, though Crono was singed on the leg. He unsheathed his sword, which he creatively attached the holster to his suit, and charged the elite. He yelled out as his sword pierced right through the elite's abdomen. When he pulled the sword out, it was covered in bluish blood. He looked down at the blade, with a strange look on his face. He looked back at the team.  
  
"Good job, kid." Tommy said, and hoisted up his flamethrower.  
  
"Governor's mansion is secured." The chief stated. He walked out to the remaining Marines. "What's the status here?"  
  
"Sir..." one marine began, "as far as we know, the whole city is currently under attack." The chief turned to his team. "Okay team, in order to cover the city, we're gonna have to split up in threes. Crono, Tommy and myself will be Team Alpha. Max, 47 and Raynor, you guys will be Team Beta. Samus, that leaves you with Nick and Jack. You guys will be Team Zeta. Got that?"  
  
All team members nodded their heads.  
  
"Since this north area has been secured, Team Zeta will take the west area of the city, Team Beta will take the east area of the city, my team will go south and clean up that area. Let's get rid of this unwanted infestation."  
  
The chief and his team headed south into Santa Fe. Crono followed carrying his trusty sword, and Tommy carried behind lugging his Rocket Launcher and Flamethrower. The team suddenly heard yells coming from a nearby building. An explosion in the building knocked out a wall from the inside, and some marines were sent flying.  
  
"In there! Let's go!" The chief and Crono ran to the site. Tommy went as fast as he could. The chief kicked the door down to see bands of Covenant fighting Marines, and civilians. The chief opened fire with his assault rifle and took out two Elites. Crono helped up a fallen marine.  
  
"Reinforcements have arrived!" Tommy yelled out, unleashing his flamethrower upon the unsuspected grunts and jackals. They ran off, on fire. Three more elites entered the building from which Team Alpha had. It looked like trouble, it was two Special Ops elites and one Commander, armed with an energy sword. Crono drew his sword. The Spec Ops threw plasma grenades. The team dived out of the way on time. The Commander let out a large grunt.  
  
"Fuck you, too!" Tommy yelled back, and hoisted up the rocket launcher. He fired it at the three elites, causing them all to fall back. One Spec Ops elite was torn apart by the blast. The remaining two stumbled back to their feet. Crono charged the commander and they engaged in a swordfight. When Crono managed to get a hit, the Elite was protected by it's energy shield. Crono looked confused, and the elite socked him in the face with its free hand. The chief took out his pistol and fired a bullet, piercing the Spec Ops elite in the leg, causing him to drop to his knee. The Chief ran up to it and planted the butt of his pistol into the Elite's skull. The civilians in the building watched the battle, laying motionless on their stomachs on the floor with their hands on their heads. The chief then planted a plasma grenade on the back of the Commander. The force of the grenade knocked the commander out of the building, back to the street outside, but it didn't kill him. It knocked out its shields. The chief and Tommy were about to run outside and rush him, but Crono held out his arms, signaling them not to.  
  
"What is it, kid?" Tommy asked. Crono, obviously didn't answer. He just held out his arms. His eyes rolled back into his head. He began to levitate off the ground. The chief and Tommy took a step back. Suddenly, it got dark outside. Storm clouds formed overhead. Loud thunder was heard. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck down the Elite. It fell to the ground, and jolted around. Then, it stopped moving.  
  
"Did you do that?" The chief asked.  
  
Crono returned to the ground. The clouds disappeared, his eyes went back to normal. He turned around and faced Tommy and the Master Chief, and smiled.  
  
"Good thing you're on our side, then." Tommy commented.  
  
The chief spoke over the Team Omega intercom. "Teams Beta and Zeta, report your status."  
  
The first to respond was Max. "Yah chief, we're here. We're about to engage a band of Covenant patrol. They're terrorizing a business building. We're about to engage."  
  
"Be careful, Team Beta. Team Zeta, respond."  
  
"Chief..." Samus' voice was heard, the cut off by static. "We were ambushed at the Loretta Chapel..." her voice was cut off by static again. "Under heavy fire...trapped...Slate is injured...needs medical attention immediately."  
  
"Samus, hang in there. Team Alpha is on the way. We've secured the southern section of Santa Fe. We're heading to your location." The chief answered. Samus' acknowledge light flashed. The chief shut off the intercom. He looked at Crono and Tommy. "We're heading to the western quadrant, Team Zeta needs assistance."  
  
Crono put his sword back in his sheath. Tommy flipped the Rocket Launcher over his back.  
  
"Can you do that trick whenever you want?" The chief asked Crono. Crono nodded. "Good. We're gonna need a lot of help, by the sounds of the shit hats going down over there."  
  
Team Alpha ran out of the building. They had no idea what kind of trouble Samus and Team Zeta was in. They were pinned down in the Chapel by a Commander Elite and a Prophet, who were followed by three Spec Ops Elites and two Hunters. For the first time, Samus was worried. She was used to fighting aliens and such, Metroids. But she was actually worried for her life. She had never faced an enemy as powerful as the Covenant. Jack was hit was a charged plasma pistol shot in the leg and burned through his suit. The flesh was burning up. Samus was trying to keep an eye on him and fight off the Covenant at the same time. She didn't know what to do.  
  
Nick peeked around the corner and unloaded a round of Assault Rifle rounds. He went back to his position as bolts of plasma flew by. Samus charged up her weapon, and did the same. They couldn't manage to take any of them out because there were so many powerful fighters. Jack grasped his leg in pain.  
  
Samus though to herself, 'Chief, where are you...' 


	11. The Cry For Help

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 11: The Cry for Help  
  
Team Beta was ducking behind a truck to avoid being seen by the Covenant troops entering and leaving the business building they had decided to attack. It seems that they had completely taken it over, and killed any human who resisted. Some people escaped. Some were shot down while trying to escape, Max could see the bodies with the burnt flesh marks in their back due to the plasma.  
  
"I'll head into the adjacent building, it looks empty, I'm sure I can pick off a few freaks from there." 47 said, and held up his sniper rifle.  
  
"I can dive right in, and tear 'em up with my gun. When the first round runs out, you can take care of the rest, Maxey." Raynor commented.  
  
"Let's do this." Max replied.  
  
47 Ran across the street, trying not to be noticed. Max and Raynor snuck around either side of the front door.  
  
"Ready?" Raynor asked. Max nodded. Raynor turned and kicked down the door. He was surprised to see what he did. A Commander Elite armed with a Plasma Rifle, a Prophet, three Special Ops Elites and a band on Jackals. Raynor opened fire. All of the Covenant quickly turned and tried to dodge the barrage of bullets.  
  
"Eat it!" Raynor yelled. He concentrated his fire on the last visible Elite, a Spec Ops. His chain gun bullets quickly tore through its shield. The Elite ran in the opposite direction, but the bullets quickly tore through the alien. It dropped to the hardwood floor with a loud thud, landing in a pool of thick, purple liquid. Its own blood.  
  
Raynor turned the corner to face Max. "There's a lot more than I though would be in there!"  
  
A Spec Ops elite ran out the door. It swung at Raynor, knocking him down the entrance stairs. Max fired his two pistols, but the alien's shield swallowed them up. A bullet from across the street flew by and traveled through the Elite's head, causing purple blood to splash all over Max's suit. The elite tumbled down the stairs and landed on Raynor.  
  
"Get this damned thing off of me!"  
  
Max ran to him and hoisted the alien carcass off of Raynor. He gave a thumbs up toward the direction where the bullet came from. Max then ran into the building. He dived through the door, in bullet time, and saw the Jackals. Four bullets - four head shots. The Jackal's shields disappeared and they fell to their knees, then they finally hit the floor. The remaining Spec Ops elite emerged from behind the reception desk. He opened fire with his Plasma Pistol. Max re-entered Bullet time, and slowly dodged the plasma bolts which flew by his head in slow motion. He did a backward roll, unlatched a grenade from his belt and tossed it behind the desk. The Elite immediately dropped all of it's Plasma Grenades to the floor. When Max's grenade detonated, it set off a huge chain reaction, nearly demolishing the entire building.  
  
The remaining Commander Elite and the Prophet showed themselves. The Commander let out a huge grunt noise. Raynor opened fire with his chain gun, but the bullets were swallowed by the Elite's energy shield. The prophet held out its arms. Max and Raynor clutched their heads in pain, and fell to their knees.  
  
"Ahhh! My head!" Raynor yelled out.  
  
Another bullet flew by from the adjacent building. It nailed the Prophet in between the eyes. Its levitating throne fell to the ground and the Prophet's corpse rolled out of the chair. The Commander opened fire. Two more sniper bullets flew by, hitting the Elite square in the chest. The second shot seemed to wipe out it's shields. Max got back to his feet and dove to the left, firing his pistols. One shot hit the Elite in the leg, he feel to one knee. Another hit it in the chest. It clutched the bullet wound. The third shot nailed him in the side of the head. The elite fell down, it's weapon dropped from its claw.  
  
Max turned on the intercom. "East sector secured, chief."  
  
"Team Beta, get over to the west sector. Team Zeta is having some trouble." The chief responded. Max, Raynor and 47 began to run to the west sector.  
  
Samus turned the corner and fired her weapon. It nailed a Spec Ops in the chest, causing him to topple over. Nick turned the corner and pumped the vulnerable Elite up with an Assault Rifle round. He quickly turned the corner when the other elites opened fire. Jack tried to stand, but his leg was badly burnt from plasma fire. There were still two Spec Ops, a Commander, a Prophet, and a band of Jackals and Grunts. Team Zeta was hiding behind a portion of a blown-up wall in the hospital. The rest of the building was being scouted Jackals and Grunts, but Team Zeta was pinned down by the ones in charge. Samus hear a loud crash and peeked her head around the corner.  
  
The chief kicked down the door to the hospital and opened fire upon the Covenant. The Commander and the Prophet made their way to the second floor. The Spec Ops Elites tossed their plasma grenades. The chief took cover for the explosion. Tommy stepped in and fired a rocket at he two Elites. The rocket tore them apart, and the whole building shook. Crono pulled out his sword and began slicing up Grunts and Jackals with ease. Nick helped Jack up, and Team Zeta headed toward Team Alpha.  
  
"Thank God..." Samus said.  
  
"What's his condition?" The Master Chief asked, pointing at Slate.  
  
"I'm going to need some bio-foam before he can get in battle again, and a replacement leg plate for the suit." Samus said.  
  
"Alright. Let's clean this place up and head back to the extraction point, our work here will be done." The chief answered.  
  
Crono and The Chief ran up the stairs. They headed into a room filled with bottles and medication things. The chief picked up a white canister and tossed it to Crono.  
  
"Take this to Samus. It's bio-foam, it should help out Slate.  
  
The Commander kicked down the door, and shook its fists in anger. Crono ran back down the stairs. The chief shot at the Commander but it's shields were to powerful. The Commander swung its Energy sword at the chief, but he managed to dodge it. The chief grabbed a fire extinguisher off of the wall, and used it on the Commander. It let out a large cry, and tumbled backward into a wall. After the white smoke disappeared, the Commander still had trouble seeing what was going on. The chief grabbed his pistol and continued to fire at the alien. It's shield went down after about 5 bullets, then the rest of the bullets pierced the alien and left marks in the wall behind it. It fell to the once clean floor, now covered in alien blood. The chief turned around and saw the Prophet heading toward the window. He unlatched a grenade and chucked it at the Prophet, and blew it to bits. When he got back downstairs, Team Beta was there as well.  
  
"Guess we missed all the fun, huh?" Raynor asked.  
  
A voice was overheard on the team intercom. It was the Admiral. "Excellent so far, Team Omega. There is a new assignment for you. You must board the ship the Covenant used to get to this location, a carrier named the Invader. There may be important information located on the ship that Cortana might be able to find about the Covenant...possibly the location of the Covenant home world. There are still Covenant on the ship, so be careful. It is located 40 kilometers south of Santa Fe, in the middle of the desert. I've also given you directions to the Santa Fe armory, in case you need to stock up before going on your trip. Good luck, Team Omega."  
  
"Finally," Cortana started, "Something that I can do!"  
  
The chief smiled. He looked at his team. "You heard the man. Let's get to it." 


	12. The Invader

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 12: The Invader  
  
The Master Chief radioed into Sector M-9. "Doc, send a Pelican to Santa Fe, we need transportation to the Invader."  
  
"Sorry Chief, no can do right now. There's a huge sandstorm over here. You'll have to find your own way there."  
  
The chief was frustrated with the news. He was hoping for a Pelican, or at least, a few Warthogs.  
  
"Hey Chief, you're looking for a way to get south of Santa Fe to fit us all, then hop aboard!" Tommy yelled, heading toward a coach bus that was parked on the side of the road.  
  
"All right, let's go." The chief said.  
  
Everyone walked toward the bus. Some of them had trouble getting inside because of the suit. Tommy drove the bus and headed toward the location of the Invader. Tommy fiddled through the radio stations.  
  
"No good stations in this time, you know that?!" Tommy complained. "I need some VROCK."  
  
"Just drive, will you Tommy?" Nick said.  
  
The bus continued on to the location of the Invader. The team could see it from a mile away. It was dark when they reached there, but the ship was still completely visible in the sky. Lights all around the edges lit up the sky. A gravity lift was connecting the ground pad with the ship. Covenant soldiers were going in and out, some of them brought down ghosts and lined them up in the desert. It looked like they were planning another assault. The rocks and the terrain made it difficult to get to the ship. The team continued to scale the rough ground until they were about a hundred yards away from the gravity lift. A band of Minor and Major elites protected it while others were moving supplies to what looked like to be a miniature base the Covenant were creating out in the desert.  
  
"Before we get in the ship, we have to take out the entire Covenant base on the ground to prevent attacks to other cities." The Chief stated. The team drew their weapons. "Crono, you think you can start us off?" he asked. Crono nodded. He closed his eyes. The team stepped back. Crono re-opened his eyes, to show pure white. He levitated off the ground and raised his hands in the air. It looked like an electrical storm was being created right in front of them. A bright flash caused the team to look away. Quick shots of lightening flew toward the Covenant. The Elites were confused. Volts of electricity hit one by one, causing them to fall to the sand. Some of them were fried to the point where smoke actually began to arise off of the charred body. The rest of the Covenant emerged from the base.  
  
"Now!" the chief yelled. The team charged, firing their weapons. The Covenant were still in shock. They dropped like flies. Nick kept his finger on the trigger of the Assault Rifle. Max repeatedly fired his pistols. Samus fired smaller shots rather than waiting to charge her weapon. Jack limped, but kept shooting his shotgun. Tommy laughed as he fired a rocket into the middle of the Covenant base, sending Elites and Ghosts flying off the ground, some crashing into others. 47 kneeled to the ground and carefully placed his sniper bullets through the heads of Elites and Jackals who were running in distress. Raynor opened fire with his chain gun, tearing down one Covenant after another. They didn't stand a chance, but this time, Team Omega had the upper hand. They had the element of surprise. The Covenant were left a bloody mess.  
  
"What a mess," Raynor said.  
  
Just then, a Commander Elite being accompanied by two Hunters and a Prophet took the gravity lift down from the ship. The team turned around to see the creatures. The Commander let out a huge grunt, and the Hunters charged the group. They charged their fuel rod cannons and fired at the team. On hit the ground near Tommy and Raynor, they were sent flying and hit the sand hard. The other just missed Samus, but flew over her head landing behind her, sending her fore ward. For the first time, the Chief was worried. Kang and Slate ran up to the Hunters and fired at them. Their bullets were easily reflected by the Hunters strong armor. The Hunters both simultaneously use their huge shields and whacked Jack and Nick aside. The two crashed into rocks sticking out of the ground. Crono gripped his sword tighter. Something happened there that neither the Covenant nor Team Omega expected. A blue portal, much like the one that appeared in Sector M-9 appeared in the middle of the desert. Three black figures were shown in the portal, then they stepped out of the portal. Two of the figures were Marle and Lucca, the chief knew them as Crono's friends. They were all suited up in UNSC Armor. The third person was someone very familiar to the chief. The Master Chief was actually very surprised to see him. It was Sgt. Johnson. The Sarge ran up to the chief.  
  
"Sgt. Johnson, reporting for duty, chief."  
  
"Sgt. Johnson, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I figured you guys needed some help." He replied.  
  
The two girls raised one hand each. "Antipode!" They both yelled. A line of fire came from Lucca's hand, as a line of Ice came from Marle's. The two met, then caught the two Hunters inside. The power of the attack sent the two monsters flying, one charred and burned, the other frozen solid. Crono ran up to the girls.  
  
"What are you two doing here?" he whispered.  
  
"We're coming with you, that's final. We're not letting you have all the fun."  
  
Crono sighed. "Delta Force, quick!"  
  
Crono, Marle and Lucca made a triangle formation around the Commander and the Prophet. All three of them levitated off of the ground. Lightning came from Crono, Ice came from Marle and Fire came from Lucca. The power of the three elements mixed and surrounded the aliens. They were disintegrated.  
  
"Is there anything that kid can't do?" Tommy asked.  
  
The twelve of them ran into the gravity lift. They all hovered off of the ground.  
  
"Holy shit!" Kang yelled.  
  
"This is awesome!" Jack yelled out.  
  
"Amazing..." 47 trailed off.  
  
They were finally taken into the belly of the beast. The Master Chief had a familiar feeling when he first entered the Truth & Reconciliation back on Halo. This was different. This was the Invader. They were invading Earth.  
  
"Chief," Cortana said, "the motion sensor is going crazy. Tons of movement."  
  
Something knocked Raynor down. He hit the ground with a thud.  
  
"Jesus Christ, who did that?!" he yelled.  
  
They looked around but nothing could be seen. The chief caught something in the corner of his eye, though. The air looked...wavy. His eyes widened. He pulled out his pistol and fired. The camouflaged Elite was then revealed. He fired back at the chief. The rest of Team Omega turned and fired at it. He was ripped apart by flying bullets. Three of the eight doors leading to the gravity lift area. Grunts, Jackals, Minor and Major Elites poured out of the doors. They opened fire on Team Omega. Marle grabbed her Crossbow she had attached to her suit. Lucca pulled out a small, single-handed gun, which looked like an altered pistol. Sgt. Johnson reloaded his Assault Rifle.  
  
"Fire!" The chief yelled. A huge firefight began between the two sides. Team Omega managed to back up to one side of the very big room. Some of them took cover behind the Covenant receptors they had planted all over the place. Those big, purple boxes the chief would never forget he saw them almost everywhere on Halo. The chief tossed a grenade over his head. It sent some Grunts and Jackals flying. Tommy stood up and unleashed the power of his Flamethrower. A minor elite or two got charred. Samus charged her weapon. She stood up, along with Kang, Slate and Max, and they all fired their guns. Max was hit in the arm with a charged plasma shot. He fell down, clutching his shoulder, yelling in pain. The team managed to finish off of the rest of the Covenant.  
  
"Crono, is there any biofoam left in that canister?" The chief asked.  
  
Crono tossed him the canister, which was only half empty. He sealed up Max's wound.  
  
"You should be ok for a few hours." The chief told him.  
  
"I'll be fine," Max said, "I've been through worse than this, believe it or not."  
  
The team continued into the interior of the Invader, looking for the control room.  
  
"Wait," Cortana said, "there is an input station on the wall. Upload me, I'll download a map of the Invader."  
  
The chief pulled her out if the socket in his helmet and inserted her chip in the station.  
  
"Amazing..." she said, "the ship structure is almost exactly the same as the Truth & Reconciliation. I have the map." She said.  
  
The chief pulled her back out and shoved the chip back into his helmet. The team took Cortana's directions and made their way into the control room. Little did they know what was there waiting for them. 


	13. The Monitor

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, except Dr. Dufraime. But he's not very important.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 13: The Monitor  
  
Team Omega slowly crept down the hallway toward the door to the control room of The Invader. Killing a few patrolling Elites and Jackals on the way, the team had no idea what to expect when the door opened. The chief readied his assault rifle as the rest of Team Omega did with their weapons. The chief then opened the door and sprung into the control room. There were many Elites, Jackals and Grunts in the room, running around. But none of them fired at Team Omega. The chief then saw something he thought he would never see again. It was 343 Guilty Spark. The once Monitor of Halo turned to the chief.  
  
"Greetings Reclaimer. I'm surprised you've made it this far." He said in that high-pitched robotic voice.  
  
"Monitor, what the hell are you doing here!"  
  
"When I found out of the Covenant's plan to wipe out the Humans, I asked them to come along so I can finish what I started on the Pillar of Autumn, gather information about the human race. I offered my help and the help of my sentinels so that I could gather the information before they wiped you out."  
  
"You're a twisted, sad excuse for an A. I." Cortana said harshly toward her nemesis.  
  
"Why, thank you." The monitor replied. "This ship is under my control. These Covenant will do as I say. And I say eliminate them!"  
  
The Covenant warriors then aimed their weapons at Team Omega.  
  
"Take cover!" The chief yelled, as the team scattered in the control room to take cover behind numerous objects.  
  
"Toodles." The Monitor said, as he exited the control room, as 6 or 7 sentinels entered the room.  
  
Members of Team Omega took turns sticking their head out and firing at their adversaries. Samus blindly threw a plasma grenade overhead and heard the screams of Jackals and Grunts as it went off. The Master Chief took out his pistol and precisely fired his shots and the two Commander Elites at the main controls of the Invader. Spec Ops elites began throwing plasma grenades at the Chief's position, causing him to dive out of the way and take cover behind another object. Tommy reloaded his rocket launcher and fired, taking out a few Jackals and an Elite. Marle and Lucca popped up every so often to fire off their weapons. Nick and Jack were also too busy keeping their fingers on the trigger to notice the plasma grenade that hand landed by them. Raynor dived at them, knocking them out of the way on time.  
  
"Thanks for that." Nick said.  
  
"Yeah," commented Jack.  
  
Raynor rolled his eyes at the two cops. He then turned and fired off his chain gun, tearing down numerous Covenant. 47 took his time to scope out the Elites and pegged most of them off one by one with the sniper rifle.  
  
One Commander unleashed his energy sword, which was Crono's cue. He unsheathed his sword and charged at the commander, as plasma bolts flew by him from other enemies. The two engaged into another swordfight; Crono's favorite kind of fight. His eyes flashed white and he struck the Elite in the side, as his word was surging with Electrical Energy. The power of the sword cut right through the Elite's energy shield like a hot knife through butter. After the shield went down, the sword pierced the side of the great Elite. It let out a loud cry of pain. The Elite clutched its side and swung its sword at Crono, rather sloppily. Crono easily dodged it and struck the Elite on the leg with the sword. The Elite fell to one knee. Crono finished it off by impaling the sword in the back of the Elite's head. He pulled the sword out of the Elite's corpse, which was now covered in purple blood.  
  
The sentinels then took their turn and fired their red lasers at Team Omega. The team shot their weapons, some of them didn't do much damage.  
  
"Use plasma or explosives!" yelled the chief.  
  
Samus charged her weapon and fired it at one of the hovering robots. The impact knocked the sentinel out of the sky. Tommy fired his rocket launcher, the explosion caused two sentinels to fall. Nick and Jack both tossed plasma grenades, miraculously both grenades latched to the sentinels they were aiming at. To more went down. The lasers from the sentinels wiped out the chief's shield. 47 fired a sniper round into the robot and it fell out of the sky. The last remaining sentinel turned to Raynor and 47, unleashing its laser. The laser burned a hole in Raynor's suit and it also singed 47's right arm. He clutched his arm in pain. Sgt. Johnson fired his Assault rifle at the last sentinel, and it finally fell to the ground.  
  
"Chief," Cortana said, "343 Guilty Spark is no longer on this ship. But I do believe there is information that I can use to locate the Covenant Home World."  
  
The chief walked up to the control panels and inserted Cortana's chip. The controls light up with bright white and purple lights. Cortana's voice can be heard through the entire control room.  
  
"Ahh..." she said.  
  
"Uh, what exactly was that monitor thing back there chief?" Raynor asked.  
  
The chief was about to open his mouth but Cortana beat him to it. "343 Guilty Spark was the former Monitor of Installations on Halo. He tricked the chief into retrieving the index, making him think that they would use Halo to wipe out the Flood. The Flood was a parasitic life form on Halo that would devour both Human and Covenant soldiers, and turn them into their own. It was later revealed that Halo could only wipe out the flood by killing their food, Humans and Covenant, so they could starve to death. The Monitor's plan was stopped by the Chief and myself. But he somehow managed to escape the blast of Halo..." she said.  
  
"Then what was he doing with these aliens?" Samus asked.  
  
The chief thought about it for a sec. "The Monitor must have cut a deal with the Covenant. His assistance, and his powerful Sentinels, to help take out the humans as long as the Monitor hitched a ride to earth and downloaded all of the information of human history into his data base. But something doesn't seem right..." he pondered.  
  
"What ever happened to the Flood?" Marle asked with curiosity.  
  
"AS far as we know," Sgt. Johnson spoke, "They were wiped out on Halo. After the Chief found out about that little tin can's real idea, it became an all out war between the four sides. After the blast, it was to be believed that the Flood were completely wiped out. But there might be a chance that some escaped using the Covenant."  
  
"You're right..." The chief said. "No Flood ever made it back to Earth, but what if some got back to the Covenant's home world? Do you think if that happened, the Monitor's real deal was to get to earth, and he told the Covenant he could take care of the Flood infestation on the Covenant's home planet?"  
  
"That's a possibility..." Cortana started up again, "But that would mean there must be another super weapon out there he is planning to use to get rid of the Flood, unless he's just bluffing. If it would work the same way as Halo did, it would kill all of the Covenant to kill the Flood so they would starve to death. The Covenant must have made this deal with the Monitor not knowing what he really has planned. Then the Covenant and, and us, would be completely out of the Monitor's way and he would fly away with the data of three races! The little bastard!"  
  
"Cortana, let's not jump to conclusions, though. We're not sure about this yet." The chief said.  
  
"This is really confusing, you know?" Nick said.  
  
"Yeah, I haven't got a clue what you're talking about." Jack said.  
  
"I think I do..." Samus said, "But even if this was true, how would you plan to find out? Interrogate a grunt?"  
  
"They would never tell a grunt this kind of information. Usually only Commander Elites and Prophets would most likely know about this kind of thing." Cortana said.  
  
Crono looked down at the body of the Commander Elite he just had recently killed, then looked up at the team and shrugged. Marle giggled.  
  
"All I have to say is let's burn 'em all to hell!" Tommy yelled, firing his Flamethrower into the air.  
  
"If we could somehow get this information to the Covenant and break the alliance between them and the Monitor...this fight would be a lot easier. We wouldn't have to be fighting against an allied enemy." Cortana said.  
  
"Yeah, good idea." Raynor piped up. "Let's call them up, ask to set a meeting, maybe have a few beers. It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."  
  
"Knock it off," 47 said. "We need to think logically about this."  
  
"I think I have a plan. Cortana, how are those co-ordinates for the Covenant's home world coming along?" The chief asked.  
  
"I'm working on it, Chief. The Covenant sure do bury their info as deep as possible.  
  
"You know that if there really is Flood on the Covenant's home world, there's a good chance that they're heading towards earth as well." Sgt. Johnson.  
  
"Team, we've got ourselves in the middle of a four-front war." The chief said. "We're the only humans out here now. There's only twelve of us, possibly millions of Flood, billions of Covenant, and go knows how many sentinels are flying around. If you see something hat ain't one of us, kill it. 


	14. The Flood

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.  
  
A/N: Sorry for the delay, folks. I had alot of crap goin on lately and I just couldn't find the time to update. Now I have!  
  
Best of the Best  
  
Chapter 14: The Flood  
  
"Cortana, can you take this thing to the Covenant home world or not?" The Master Chief asked, impatiently.  
  
"I'm working on the co-ordinates as we speak, Chief. Take it easy." she responded.   
  
The rest of Team Omega were keeping themselves busy during the wait. The team had been informed about eh Covenant, but now with the sentinels, and this new race, the Flood, they began to worry.  
  
"While Cortana is working on that, I think i had better tell you about the Flood." The chief told him team. "The Flood was a parasitic life form that we ran into on Halo. When they were released, they ran amock both Humans and Covenant, devouring them both. Oncec eaten, the bodies become an attack unit for the Flood, after which the body eventually turns into a carrier, which harvets the Spores, tiny spider-like creatures used to attack and impant themselves into other living things. By all means nececssary, do not let them get on you."  
  
"Spiders!" Marle shreeked, "I hate spiders!"  
  
"You'll hate these little bastards ten times worse," Sergant Johnson began, "they're the most vile creatures in the universe, next to the Covenant, that is."  
  
"The Flood are extreamly powerful. Though they are blind, they have exceellent senses of touch, hearing, smelling and taste. They can jump extreamly high and very long distances. They can use any weapon they get their filthy appendages on. If they do not have a weapon, they will strike at you mercillously. Sniper Rifles are innefectiv against the flood, the bullets pass right through their bodies. Don't attempt to hit them either, they are severely resistable to direct physical damage. A few well-placed pistol shots or rounds of a shotgun will do them in. Assault rifles and plasma weapons are not the best choice against the Flood, but if there isn't anything else to use, they will do." The chief said.  
  
"Chief, I got the co-ords to something here...but I don't think its the Covenant home world."  
  
"What is it then, Cortana?" he asked. Cortana opend up a holographic figure. The chief stared in disbelief. The huge ring-like object hovered a few centimeters of the holograph displayer.  
  
"What is it?" Samus asked.  
  
"It's...Halo..." Johnson said in disbelief.  
  
"Is it possible that that little robot thingy made another one?" Raynor asked.  
  
"No..." the chief said, "it must have already existed. It would take eons to build something like that. That's probably what the Monitor intends to use on the Covenant..."  
  
"So, the little tin can wasn't bluffing?" 47 asked.  
  
"I guess not..." Cortana said, still trying to imput this new information.   
  
"Cortana, get us there, now." The chief said. The craft suddenly hurled into outer space. The ship used its SlipSpace ability to make the time seem to go exreamly fast on the way there. The team was getting prepared for anything. Covenant, Flood, Sentinels, anything. One thing they didn't expeect, however, was a Covenant ship heading towards them in SlipSpace.  
  
"Cortana! Use evasive manuevers!" The chief yelled.  
  
"Chief, what if there's Flood on that ship? It could be headed to earth!" Sgt. Johnson said. The chief thought about it.   
  
"Cortana, forget that last order. Make contact with the ship so we can board it. We need to clear it out."  
  
The Invader soon made contact with the Covenant ship. There were transmissions coming into the control room from the ship...they seemed to be distress calls. There was definately something on the ship that didn't belong. Soon after the two ships connected, the Chief was well aware of the problem. Sgt. Johnson was right, it was the Flood. He could tell by the torn apart bodies of grunts and some jackals lyring around the main chamber on the enemy ship. One by one, Team Omega jumped down into the ship from the one above. A disgusting stench filled the air, a familiar one to the chief. Light blue and purple blood stained the hallways of the Covenant ship. The team stood close together, all of which had their fingers on their triggers, except for Crono, who gripped tightly onto his sword. The team amde it to the extraction room where they found their first opposition. There was a band of Flood on the bottom floor shooting at a grroup of Covenant on the level above.  
  
"Remember what I told you about these Flood! Let's get to work!" The chief shouted.   
  
The team opened fire on the aliens. Some Flood kept their attention on the floor above. The rest turned and charged at team Omega. Scattered groups of spores crawled quickly toward the team. Some Flood warriors stood back and fired while others charged. There was also a group of Carriers slowly making their way toward them. Kang shot off his assault rifle, clearing away the spores. But three fighter forms made their way up to the team. One of them struck Jack, knocking him at least ten feet back into the wall behind him. The second attacked 47, knocking him into a Covenant communicator more than twelve feet away. The third one smacked Marle and sent her hard into the door where they had entered. Crono witnessed this. He grasped tightly onto his sword and yelled out as he sliced off the former Elite's head. The head hit the floor with a squishy noise, but something wasn't right. The body was still standing. It raised an arm and stuck Crono across the face, sending him the the floor. Lucca shot off her gizmo gun into the creature, causing it to hit the floor and stay down.  
  
"The Flood do not need the head to live! You have to be careful!" The chief said, helping Crono up.  
  
Jack blew a round of shotgun shells into the Flood that had hit him, knocking it down. The first Flood was knocked back as Samus fired a missle at it. The chief looked surprised.  
  
"You have other weapons?" he asked her.  
  
"Yes I do, quite a few in fact. Check this out." she said, pressing a button on her arm cannon. She aimed toward the Flood who were shooting at them. A purple engery beam shot out at them, killing one of them. "That was the Wave Beam. And this..." she started, firing another shot, this time a large chunk of ice flew out of the cannon, nailing one of the Flood, causing it to freeze solid. It hit the floor and crashed into pieces. "...is the Ice Beam."  
  
"Wow," Max commented, "thats pretty good." A plasma bolt flew by his head. There were still a band of Flood shooting at them, and Covenant on the landing above them. 47 knelt down and concentrated his sniper rounds on the Jackals and Elites. He could see that there were about five elites, three spec ops and two majors. Max dove ahead and fired off his two pistols into the Flood. Another combat form fell to the ground. Two carriers slowly made their way to Team Omega. Tommy unpinned a grenade and threw it.  
  
"No...don't!" The chief yelled. But it was two late. The grenade set off behind the two carriers, sent them flying into the air. They landed behind Team Omega, then burst. Spores flew out of the large sac and crawled toward Team Omega, all the while the other combat forms were still shooting at them. The chief turned quickly and fired his assault rifle at the spores, managing to kill them before they reached the team. "Do NOT use explosives on carrier forms! They have no affect."   
  
One armor-piercing bullet after another, 47 finished off the last of the Covenant on the landing above while Nick and Jack cleaned up the remaining infection forms.   
  
"We have to destroy this ship..and continue on to Halo" The chief said. "Cortana, could you set off the self-destruction of this ship and we can back to the Invader."   
  
"Sure thing chief, find me an import." She said. He ran to the wall and searching for an imput. When he found one, he inserted her chip for about ten seconds, then put her back into his helmet. "We've got an hour before this thing goes off. I suggest we move to the armory, grab what we can, and get the hell out of here."  
  
After salvaging everything useful (Covenant weapons, plasma grenades and such), the team reboarded the Invader and continued their way to Halo. As they began to travel oncee again, Samus removed her helmet. She looked out of one of the many windows on the Invader back onto the ship they were just on. It was quite a ways away already. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, causing Samus to turn away and close her eyes for a second. When she looked back, there was just reminents of the ship, it almost completely disintegrated. When she turned around, the chief was standing there looking out the same window. He startled her.  
  
"Chief...I didn't see you there." She said.  
  
"The last time I saw something like that happen, it was to one of our own ships..." he said.  
  
"I'm...I'm sorry..." she said, sympathetically.  
  
"Millions of men died for no good reason. This time, I'm going to make sure none of those bastards ever get out of this war. The human race will prevail. I'm not going to let the Covenant, the Flood or the Monitor stop us from winning this war. I can't. This is my purpose to live, to win."  
  
Samus put a hand on his shoulder, and smiled. She knew it was going to be a long time before she had the chance to smile again. 


	15. The Resurrection

Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own these characters, so you guys can't sue!  
  
A/N: Thanks for all of the positive reviews and suggestions. However, if you've noticed, the team is complete with 12. If you would plan to write a story similar like this (people from different games/movies all fighting the Covenant) you are free to, just don't use the exact characters that I did. I've been getting a lot of suggestions about Neo...hmmm...there must be a lot of Matrix fans over here. But I just didn't think it would be appropriate for Neo in this kind of a story, thanks anyway.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 15: The Resurrection  
  
"Cortana, continue on to the co-ordinates of the new Halo...we better get rid of this thing so the Monitor's plan doesn't go out quite as planned."  
  
"Chief, I don't think it will be as easy as last time...for all we know, that thing can be swarming with Covenant, Flood and Sentinels...oh wait, never mind."  
  
The chief smirked at her. He could only hope it would be as easy as the last time. This time, he had a great crew. This time, he had to finish all of these beasts for good. He wasn't completely sure how to do it yet, but he knew that he would find a way.  
  
Hours flew by. The team kept themselves busy by learning how to use the new Covenant weapons and grenades. Finally, they were in landing distance of the new Halo.  
  
"Chief, how should we do this?" Cortana asked.  
  
"Find a safe place for landing. From there, hopefully we could find the Control Room." He responded.  
  
Cortana did her best to land on the ring world. She found something to be very odd, however, that this ring looked exactly identical to the first Halo they encountered. That meant that it wouldn't be hard finding the control center, she would just use the cartographer she had hidden away in her data vault from her previous encounter on Halo.  
  
"Chief, I'm going to land us as close to the control center as possible." Cortana stated. "The clearest landing place is a few kilometers away. We'll have to go on foot by there."  
  
"Weren't there some Ghosts in the storage room?" asked Max.  
  
"There's not enough for everyone, and we need to stick together." The chief stated.  
  
Cortana pulled the Invader close to the ground, then activated the gravity lift. The chief yanked her out of the control board of the ship and re- inserted her into his helmet. She sighed in relief.  
  
"It's good to be back." She said.  
  
The team picked up all of their arms, and headed toward the gravity lift.  
  
"Remember team, we're fighting more than one enemy, so the odds are stacked against us. First thing we have to do is break the Monitor's alliance with the Covenant. Let's go!"  
  
The team jumped down the gravity lift and safely landed on the surface of the ring. The snowy ground felt extremely familiar to the Master Chief. Unfortunately for them, a band of Flood were heading their way.  
  
"It's pretty cold over here..." Marle said, shivering.  
  
The chief noticed movement on his motion senser. "Something is heading this way!"  
  
Just as those words were spoken, a group of Flood, Combat forms, carriers and spores, turned a corner and charged at the team. They opened fire. The spores popped like a candle in hydrogen gas. Carriers exploded causing a few combat forms to fall. But they wouldn't stay down.  
  
"There's too many!" 47 yelled.  
  
"Chief! Behind you!" Samus yelled.  
  
The chief turned only to get struck in the head from a former Elite. A purple beam flew over the Chief and nailed the creature in the chest, then another. The creature fell. Jack and Nick emptied out their clips into the horrendous monsters.  
  
Marle and Lucca looked at each other. "Antipode!" they both yelled.  
  
A stream of ice came from Marle's finger as a stream of fire came from Lucca's. They two met and made a huge explosion of fire and ice together. Four combat forms were caught in the middle. After the blast, their bodies were charred black but freezing to the touch. Tommy looked at the two.  
  
"You guys can do that shit too? Holy fuck! We gotta bunch of magicians on our hands, chief." He said.  
  
A red beam from the sky suddenly shot out and knocked Tommy to his knees. More came down as Sentinels surrounded Team Omega. The Monitor made his appearance.  
  
"May I say you handled those creatures very well, Reclaimer. But I am not through with you."  
  
That was the cue for the Covenant to come out from their hiding. Elites, including a Commander armed with a laser sword, a Prophet and dual Hunters.  
  
"I think it would be better if you would just die now." The little robot said.  
  
"Don't you see what he plans to do to you!" Samus yelled at the aliens. "He's going to wipe you out as well as the Flood! It's the only way!"  
  
The Covenant looked at each other strangely. The prophet slowly moved toward Samus. The chief readied his Assault rifle, but Samus motioned him not to do anything. The prophet stared at Samus, then turned to the commander and spoke in an alien language.  
  
"(I sense truth from this one)"  
  
The commander nodded. He let out a loud battle cry as the rest of them turned upward and fired at the Sentinels. They dropped, one by one.  
  
"You fool! What are you doing?!" 343 Guilty Spark yelled out at the Commander.  
  
"(You were going to kill us too. You will pay for this treason!)"  
  
The monitor turned to Samus "You...You will pay for this!" He flew off in anger.  
  
Team Omega backed up a bit, as Tommy unleashed his Flamethrower on the unsuspecting aliens. The Hunters charged up their fuel rod cannons and fired, sending members of Team Omega flying in all directions. They decided to make a run for the control room. They headed over the huge snowy plain and up the tower. As the chief activated the door, six sentinels flew through.  
  
"Take them down!" Sgt. Johnson yelled. The team opened fire with their weapons. One by one, the sentinels came crashing down. They continued into the main room. As the final door opened, the team stepped into the control room in awe. It was a huge, vast room with a single pathway forming a circle in the center all around a large hologram of Halo. As the chief walked up to the control pad, he took Cortana's chip out of his helmet and inserted her into the control pad. Her hologram came up over the controls.  
  
"Chief, from the information I'm getting, the monitor has already armed and readied Halo for it to fire at its two targets..." she said.  
  
"What are the targets?" he asked.  
  
"The Covenant home world, which I now have the co-ordinates to...and Earth."  
  
"Can you stop it, Cortana?"  
  
"Only if the energy beacons are destroyed, but neither target will be hit."  
  
The chief turned to face Team Omega. "Team, the first thing we have to do is to find and disable the energy beacons on this ring. Secondly, we need to get to the Covenant home world and personally put them out of their misery!"  
  
The team cheered. But what were the odds of Team Omega coming through, now that especially fighting three enemies? There is no doubt that 343 Guilty Spark would have another plan, but for now, they could only do so much.  
  
Cortana buzzed up the admiral on her comm. station. "Admiral? Yes, I have the co-ordinates to the Covenant home world. Gather up the UNSC...It's our turn." 


	16. The Plan

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 16: The Plan  
  
"Cortana, request that the Admiral sends three extra pelican dropships along with the reinforcements he is sending here." Said the Master Chief.  
  
"Will do, chief." She replied.  
  
"Alright team," the Master Chief turned to Team Omega, "there are three energy beacons we need to destroy from stopping the Monitor from activating Halo...and it won't be easy, especially with the Covenant, the Flood and the Monitor with his Sentinels all over the place."  
  
"Chief...Admiral Whittaker said he can only send a portion of the UNSC to help us attack, the rest are too busy defending earth. Might I say, it was a crazy idea in the first place. Not even the entire UNSC, never mind a portion, could penetrate the defenses of the Covenant home world."  
  
"You're right, Cortana. Maybe, there is another way...we can se Halo to attack only the Covenant home world..."  
  
"It is possible chief, but it won't be easy. For each of the three beacons there is a coordination system telling it where to fire. If we could recreate the coordination system to aim directly at the Covenant home world, it would get rid of them, and the remaining Flood, plus save earth."  
  
"Where are the coordination systems for each energy beacon, Cortana?"  
  
"By each energy beacon, in a secure and locked down area. We'll have to hack...or blow ourselves in. The first beacon we can reach by foot, but the other two we will need transportation. The pelicans should be here in about a day. We should start heading toward the first energy beacon, on the adjacent side of this canyon."  
  
"Alright, Cortana. Team, are you ready?"  
  
The team nodded. They headed out of the control center and toward their first objective. However, they encountered resistance along the way. It wasn't long until Team Omega ran into a squadron of Covenant, consisting of two Hunters, a Commander Elite, three Spec Ops Elites, and the rest a mix between grunts and jackals.  
  
"Team, Offensive positions!" The Chief yelled out.  
  
Jack Slate and Nick Kang stood forward and put their finger to the trigger. Assault Rifle rounds and Shotgun Shells fired at the Covenant. They fired back with plasma rifles, pistols, and needlers. The Hunters were about to fire their Fuel Rod Cannons. Samus fired out two missiles, nailing the Hunters and stalling them. Max dove forward and fired off his pistols, knocking off a few jackals and grunts, but he was knocked down by the forearm of an Elite. The other elite went up and gave a melee attack across the face of Kang, knocking him to the snowy surface. The Hunters ran up to their pray. One used its humungous shield and swung at 47, knocking him back a few feet into the snow. The other struck Samus, sending her into the side of the cliff.  
  
"Come on, you bastards!" Tommy Vercetti yelled out, and hoisted up his rocket launcher. He went to fire – but an energy shield came down, slicing the rocket launcher into two pieces. He looked at the eight foot golden Commander Elite while the Elite planted his claw into the side of Vercetti's head, knocking him out. Raynor was sent flying by a direct hit to the chest from a Hunter's fuel rod cannon. Luckily, his suit prevented any direct bodily damage. The Master Chief looked at what was happening – his team was getting beaten.  
  
"Crono!" Marle yelled out to him. "Delta Force!" Crono quickly nodded. Crono, Marle and Lucca formed a triangle shape around the Covenant attackers. The Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson watched in awe as the three teenagers closed their eyes, and slowly levitated off of the ground. The Covenant warriors seemed astonished and stopped moving, they kept their eyes on the three humans. Suddenly, between the three of them, a mixture of Fire, Ice and Lightning formed the shape of a triangle and annihilated all who were inside of it. Three bright flashes of light, first a red, then a blue, finally a yellow, and the three teens returned to the ground. They knelt down to their knees and tried to catch their breath. The Chief looked at the Covenant – or what was remaining anyhow. The grunts and jackals were nothing but ashes in the snow. The elites and Hunters were barely recognizable, they bodies were torn up so bad. The Commander Elite was twitching, amazingly still alive. The Master Chief's boot cam crashing down on the creature's skull. Then, he looked at Crono, Marle and Lucca.  
  
"What...was that?" he asked them.  
  
"I'm not sure if Crono has told you this yet...but we have the special ability to use magic. Lucca has the power of Fire, Crono has Lightning and I have Ice." Marle told him.  
  
"Yes...but that...?"  
  
"That, was a Triple Tech. We combined all three of our magic elements to perform an extremely powerful one. But our strength is limited, and we can only do it so many times."  
  
"I understand. We should help the others and continue to our objective."  
  
The chief and the rest of the conscious team helped out their injured comrades. Jack and Nick were ok, and they were dragging an unconscious Tommy by the shoulders. The rest of them were ok, but Raynor had major damage to his chest plate on his suit. The team continued to the energy beacon. They ran into a pack of Flood along the way, but they managed to clear them out. When they finally got to the energy beacon, they were attacked by six of the Monitor's Sentinels. Samus' suit got damaged when two sentinels targeted her with their lasers, but the Chief managed to drop them before they cut through the metal. They reached the door, which was knocked down by a few well-placed plasma grenades from the chief. He then put Cortana into the console of the beacon.  
  
"Resetting the coordinates now chief...done. This beacon will target only the Covenant home world. We've done all we can do until reinforcements arrive."  
  
"Well done, Cortana. Let's get out of here." The chief yanked Cortana's chip and re-inserted it into his helmet.  
  
"Incoming message from Admiral Whittaker, chief..."  
  
"Chief, this is Admiral Whittaker. I've received news that your reinforcements ran into a little trouble on the way over there...the aliens seem to be a different division of Covenant called Brutes. They travel in Phantom Dropships. Their plasma scoring is much powerful then the normal Covenant dropship. The reinforcements are still on their way, but they won't be in top shape."  
  
The chief thought to himself. "Great...Brutes..."  
  
"Chief, the next beacon is a few hundred yards from here, but it is on a very elevated area. We will definitely need a pelican to reach it, or if we find a few Banshees..."  
  
"Weren't there a two of those things parked by where we fought the Covenant back there?" Sgt. Johnson reminded the chief.  
  
"Yes, there was. Two Banshees, parked, after the Elites decided to attack us, its only about an hour back. But only two of us can go."  
  
"You should choose someone, chief." Cortana said.  
  
"Very well. Cortana, send the rest of Team Omega the coordinates to the third energy beacon. Samus, you're coming with me to the second. Raynor, you're in charge while I'm gone."  
  
"Alright, chief." Raynor said. "You heard the man, let's get going!" Raynor and the remaining members of Team Omega ran off in the opposite direction as Samus and the Master Chief headed back to the Banshees.  
  
"Chief," Samus piped up after a long silence, "what if this plan doesn't work?"  
  
He answered confidently. "If this plan doesn't work, then we do not deserve to win this war." 


	17. The Rescue

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 17: The Rescue  
  
The Chief and Samus headed back to the two banshees while the rest of the team headed toward the third and final energy beacon. Cortana had given them instruction how to change the co-ordinates and had sent them on their way, leaving Captain Jim Raynor in charge. Samus and the Chief tracked back to the two parked banshees. They got in them and flew up to the landing strip up above. They were welcomed, however, by a Jackal, a Grunt and a Spec Ops elite.  
  
"Look out!" The chief yelled, diving and knocking Samus out of the way as a fuel rod shot flew by them, fired by the grunt. The chief pulled out his pistol and planted to bullets in the creature's forehead. The Jackal revealed itself from behind the door, firing its charged plasma pistol shot at the chief. The shot hit him, wiping out his shields, but the grunt's fuel rod cannon self destructed and knocked the Jackal off the landing's edge. The Elite came out and concentrated his fire on the weakened Spartan. Samus fired two missiles, however, knocking the alien back. The Elite retaliated by tossing a plasma grenade. Samus ducked, and the grenade missed her and went over the edge. With the press of a button, her arm cannon shifted, and she fired her wave Beam at the creature, which destroyed its shields and then ended its life when the shots came in contact with the alien flesh.  
  
"Two down..." 47 said, after two of his sniper shots nailed two unaware grunts a few miles away. Team Omega charged at a band of Covenant who were guarding the door leading into the structure that contained the third energy beacon. What they didn't expect, however, was the pair of hunters followed by a Commander Elite armed with an energy sword and a prophet to come out of that door.  
  
"Uh-oh..." Slate mumbled.  
  
"Yikes!" Kang exclaimed.  
  
The two cops fired their weapons at the aliens. They managed to take out a few grunts and jackals, but the Hunters were no match for them. One hunter used its humongous shield as a weapon and sent Jack flying back. The other did the same to Kang. Max came in, firing off his two pistols. Two more Spec Ops elites came through the door. One fell right away from Max's precise and accurate shots. The other went down from Sgt. Johnson's continuous fire with his assault rifle. Tommy switched to his flamethrower and fired at the hunters and the commander elite. They shook off the flames, and attacked the rest of the team. The Commander sliced at Tommy with his sword, but Tommy ducked in the knick of time, but received a boot to the face from the Elite. Captain Raynor fed a magazine to his chain gun and unleashed rapid fire on the Commander. Raynor made short work of its shields, but didn't kill it. Crono placed his blade through the golden colored alien. Marle shot out a line of Ice to one of the hunters as Lucca did the same using Fire. When the blast hit either monster, they both fell to the ground, one burnt and the other frozen.  
  
The Chief fired his assault rifle rapidly at the monstrous creatures known as the Flood. A group of them were in the next room waiting for more victims, luckily Samus and the Chief managed to take them out.  
  
"Chief, the next energy beacon control centre should be beyond those...doors..." Cortana said, less assuring as the Chief turned to see a door, partially opened, bathed in green and purple blood. The Chief and Samus pried the door open, revealing the controls to the energy beacon covered in pools of blood, with flood and covenant corpses scattered about the room. Two broken down sentinels also lay on the ground in the side of the room, one still on fire.  
  
"Damages is severe, Chief, I hope the control is still operational." Cortana said.  
  
The chief went up to the controls and pressed the buttons Cortana had instructed him to do. After a while, a few lights popped up, confirming the change. The chief and Samus backed out of the room to find a group of Sentinels – and the Monitor.  
  
"Greetings, Reclaimer. I can see you are trying to interrupt my plans. I will not work this time, however. This installation will destroy both the home worlds of the Covenant and the Humans. It must be done."  
  
"I'm not going to allow that to happen." The chief firmly stated.  
  
"Oh, I think you will-" the Monitor was cut off by an explosion noise. One of its sentinels were shot down, Covenant soldiers began to swarm in through the doors. The Sentinels fired their lasers at the aliens. At the opposite end, Flood began to pour in the room. The chief grabbed Samus by the arm, lead her through the central area of the room, and back out the door they had entered through.  
  
"Stop them! They're getting away!" 343 Guilty Spark yelled as the two of them snuck off under all of the commotion.  
  
"Cortana, can the Monitor change the coordinates to their original commands?"  
  
"No, I made sure a firewall was up, disallowing all access to coordinate change."  
  
"Good. We should meet up with the others." The chief said.  
  
"Take that son of a bitch out!!!" Raynor yelled. A SHADE was firing at them from a high ledge while more and more enemies were storming in.  
  
"Let's make a run for the door, Captain!" Nick exclaimed.  
  
Flood began to appear over the opposite hill. The Covenant and the Flood engaged in a battle. 47 put a bullet through the head of the grunt that was operating the Shade. Then, Team Omega bolted for the door. Another problem arose, as a pack of six Sentinels hovered out of the doorway, and quickly aimed their lasers at Team Omega. More Flood came down the hillside after devouring the Covenant. Out of no where, two banshees swooped down, firing at the massive Flood rampaging down the hill. The plasma and fuel rod weapons on the banshees managed to kill off the entire Flood, and Team Omega shot down the Sentinels. The two banshees landed and the Chief and Samus emerged from them.  
  
"Thanks for the help guys, though we didn't really need it." Raynor chuckled. "Let's get this job over with!"  
  
Team Omega stood unified together as they entered the structure in search for the last energy beacon. 


	18. The Bad News

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 18: The Bad News  
  
A/N: You have no idea how sorry I am for keeping you waiting. No, I'm not dead. It's just been a series of bad events that prevented me from updating. I got sick, my computer went down, and massive amounts of homework. Well I hope you enjoy this chapter. I took some of my reviewer's advice. I always accept new ideas and constructive criticisms. But flame me for no good reason and something bad will happen to them.  
  
The team slowly crept down the hallways of the huge interior section of the Halo replica's control area. The hallways remained familiar to the Chief and Cortana. They have not come across any hostile forces since entering this area. The chief suddenly got a transmission from Dr. Dufraime – and it wasn't good.  
  
"Chief...UNSC HQ was hit by Covenant forces about an hour ago..." Dufraime said, startled.  
  
"What's your status?"  
  
"We're in pretty bad shape...but there's worse news."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Covenant didn't send an entire fleet. It was only a few dozen infantry, mostly special ops and covert...their mission wasn't to destroy HQ, it was to steal our information database that has information on everything...everything..."  
  
"You mean, our Time Travel and Team Omega?"  
  
"I'm afraid so. They most likely decrypted it by now and know all about the project. And with the information we had, it's likely that they'll be able to find their own way to travel through time."  
  
Now, for the first time in his life, the Master Chief was worried. The Covenant could go back and change all of history, which means everything he has fought for his entire life would mean nothing. It would all mean nothing.  
  
The chief turned to his team. He hesitated to tell them, but he knew he had to. "Bad news...the Covenant has attacked UNSC HQ. They have taken the database that carried all the information on Time Travel and Team Omega. With their advanced technology, they should be able to travel through time within days. They have information on all of you...where you come from, and what time. We need to stop them before this can happen, or else the results can be horrific."  
  
"Well, we better get crackin' then, huh?" Raynor said.  
  
"I'm not going to all these ugly sons a bitches take our planet!" exclaimed Tommy.  
  
"Good. We better get moving; the final energy beacon is deep inside this structure." Cortana said.  
  
The team cautiously continued further until they came into a vast room. It was a little too quiet for the chief to believe it was safe.  
  
"Keep an eye open..." he warned.  
  
There was a sudden explosion up above. All twelve heads looked up. Spores began to pour into the room. Flood Combat forms headed into the room from the adjacent door. The team opened fire, but it didn't seem to do much. There were too many of them.  
  
"Keep your fingers on your triggers!" Johnson yelled out.  
  
Crono drew his sword and sliced though them like knives through butter. Some Flood were armed with weapons, and they fired back. One came up from behind Jack and whipped him on the back with his loose limb. Jack fell to the floor face first, his back badly cut opened.  
  
"Help me! Help!!" He yelled out, as spores began to cover him. He screamed in terror. The chief fired his assault rifle at the little fiends until they all popped. He ran up to the combat form and knocked it down with his forearm, then drew his pistol and planted four bullets into the body of the monster. He looked at Jack. He couldn't tell if he was dead or alive. But right now, he didn't have time to check.  
  
Samus fired a few missiles, knocking some combat forms to the floor. Another hit her from the side, hard, knocking her to the floor. She looked at her suit, and there was a large whole. Samus switched to her power beam, charged it, and fired it and the creature standing over her.  
  
"Antipode!" Marle and Lucca yelled. The door where the Flood were entering from was covered in a sheet of ice, and then blazed up like an inferno. The Flood within that vicinity were practically disintegrated. A carrier landed near 47 and Kang, and then it blew up and sent both of them flying into the air. 47 hit the nearest wall. Kang flew across the room and was sent through a window on the adjacent side. Tommy pulled a pin on a grenade and tossed it into anther group of the monstrous creatures. The blast sent them airborne, then hit the ground motionless. Max finished firing off his pistol rounds into the last of the Flood.  
  
The Chief ran over to Slate. He turned him on his back, and Slate was hyperventilating, but still alive. The chief picked him up. "Where's Kang? And 47?"  
  
"Over here..." 47 mumbled. Samus found him, but she wish she hadn't. Both of his legs had bent in directions which no one should have to witness.  
  
"Dear God..." she said, looking at him. The rest of the team made their way over.  
  
"What are we gonna do about him, chief?" Max asked.  
  
"Pick him up. We're not leaving a man behind. Where's Kang?"  
  
"He flew through that window..." 47 said, pointing at the direction. The chief ran over. On the other side there was blood, but no body.  
  
"Did anyone see where he went?" The team shook their heads. "Damn it. Well, we have to keep going. Maybe we'll run into him later..." 


	19. The Apology

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, as stated in all previous chapters, and other chapters to come.  
  
A/N: To let you all know, I have read and own all three Halo Novels, which would be "The Fall of Reach", "The Flood" and "First Strike". I know the whole story. I'm just about the biggest Halo fan you can possibly be. Just to let you know.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 19: The Apology  
  
"How is the time traveling device coming?" asked Muka 'Mazamee, one of the chief Elites in the Covenant army. The Covenant had now begun working on a time travel machine of their own. Muka looked through the files that his team retrieved from UNSC HQ. "Humans from their past. We can put a stop to this." Grunts and Jackals ran around frantically gathering pieces for the giant machine, which looked big enough to hold a full squadron of 500 Elites, Jackals and Grunts. Sparks flew in the air as the Covenant somewhat resembled bees in the nest.  
  
"Not much longer now, your excellence..." said Miyap, a Major Grunt. "Keep this up and only a few more days..."  
  
"We may not have a few more days!" Muka exclaimed. "Team Omega is on their way. With that human leading them, the one with armor like our own, it is not guaranteed we can stop them. We need this machine done as soon as possible."  
  
"Keep his head tilted back..." Samus said to Tommy Vercetti, the two of whom were carrying Officer Jack Slate by the shoulders. Severe cuts on his chest secreted blood. The Master Chief kept on making sudden turns to look at him, and Samus was wondering why. "Raynor, wanna help me out for a sec?"  
  
"Sure thing there, girl." Captain Raynor said, taking Samus' place holding Slate up.  
  
The Chief and Sgt. Johnson were carrying Agent 47 by the shoulders. Samus went up to him and opened a private channel. "I don't know how much longer Jack will last unless we get him some medical treatment, or biofoam at least. Why to you keep checking him?"  
  
"He could be infected." The chief said. "I need to make sure he isn't. I know the early signs of infection. Make sure his blood stays red. If you notice anything not normal, we have to kill him."  
  
"Alright, Chief." Samus said. But she knew that she wouldn't be able to kill one of her own teammates.  
  
The team came to a fork in the road, two different hallways leading to two different bridges. "Should we split up?" Max said.  
  
"We're going to have to, to find the energy beacon." The chief stood in front of Team Omega. "Look, I never said that we were all going to make it out of this alive. But you are all heroes. You've proven it in your time as well as this one. So when we find that energy beacon, we're gonna send those Covenant bastards to hell, and then try to get off this god damned ring." The rest of the team cheered. "I'll take Slate, Samus, Payne & Johnson. Raynor, you're taking Crono, Marle, Lucca, 47 and Tommy. Good luck, and keep radios open." The team split up.  
  
The Chief and his team followed the hallway onto a bridge on the exterior. Artificial snow gently fell on the ground. This motion tracker suddenly picked up three large objects.  
  
"Banshees! Get down!" The chief yelled. His team dove to the floor. The sound of banshees flying over their heads could be heard clearly. Plasma bolts hit the bridge. The chief got up on one knee and aimed his assault rifle at the closest banshee and fired. Samus placed Slate on the ground of the bridge and fired at the banshees as well, as did Max and the Serge. As one banshee swooped down, the Chief tossed a grenade just in time to catch the side of the wing with it. The banshee flew frantically for a few second until the grenade detonated and disintegrated the craft.  
  
"Chief, we got a problem!" Sergeant Johnson said. "It's Slate!" The chief glanced at him. He was regurgitating blood. Payne and Johnson continued fire on the other two banshees. One came down and landed on the bridge, and the entire thing shook. The other retreated.  
  
The chief picked Slate up on his shoulders and carried him across the bridge into the next room. Samus followed him. "He's infected..." he told her.  
  
"Chief! He's back with some friends!" Johnson yelled from the bridge. Two more banshees followed a Covie drop ship.  
  
"I need to help them." The Master Chief said. "You need to kill him." He ran back out to the bridge. She looked down at Slate, convulsing as the blood that was once red had not transformed into a pale greenish color. His skin, also, had lost its color. She cocked her cannon and looked at the poor soul. She aimed and closed her eyes. Suddenly, something hard hit her in the back and knocked her flat on her face. She flipped on her back, and saw what it was. It was a Flood human combat form. It was Kang. She looked at him in terror, and then glanced over to Slate. Slate groaned in pain, as his limbs grew long and limp. He stood up on his two feet, or appendages, and looked at Samus.  
  
"Guys, it's me...Samus. Please...we'll get you back to HQ, it'll all be fine." They didn't understand her. They were no longer human. Team Omega had failed to stay as a team.  
  
The two former humans looked at one another, puzzled. Samus made her way back to her feet, only to be struck on the head by Slate, the one she had been carrying for the last few hours. She stumbled back into the door that lead back onto the bridge, but the door didn't open. She turned and faced the two Flood who were closing in on her. She pressed a button on her arm cannon and aimed.  
  
"I'm sorry..." 


	20. The Machine

Disclaimer: Same as the rest.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 20: The Machine  
  
A/N: I know, some of you are upset, the team is falling apart. Please note that this story will lead into other fanfics I plan to write in the near future. Sorry for the long update, again, and I promis, as long as it takes, I will finish this story (hopefully around 25 Chapters). Enjoy this latest installment.  
  
"Chief...Chief do you read me?" Raynor hopelessly tried to get a hold of the Master Chief and the rest of his team via radio. The Banshees and plasma fire were disrupting their communication.  
  
"Still no luck huh?" Tommy said, while he and Crono lugged the crippled 47 down the corridor.  
  
"Afraid not. We're gonna have to keep goin' without word from 'em them."  
  
"...Stop." 47 said.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lucca asked.  
  
"Leave me here. I'm slowing you down from your objective."  
  
"No! We need to stick together as a team!" Marle exclaimed.  
  
The team continued down the hall until they entered a large room. Suddenly, six Sentinels flew out of their positions and opened fire upon the team. Raynor dove out of the way. Lucca fired her Wondershot at the closest one and sent it flying out of the sky. Crono and Tommy placed 47 down in the corner of the room, but 47 held onto Vercetti's arm. Crono went off to help the rest of them.  
  
"What is it?" Vercetti asked. He could barely look at 47's face because the expression he had on was full with indescribable pain.  
  
"...You need to kill me."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I'll hold you up from you're objective. Kill me."  
  
"No way, man. We gotta stick together or else we're done for!"  
  
"What can I do? Nothing. I can't feel my legs."  
  
"We'll get you fixed up!"  
  
"It's too late for that now..." 47 said. He grabbed Vercetti's pistol from his holster and pointed it at himself. "God forgive me."  
  
"God damn it, we need to take those out!" Sgt. Johnson yelled out as heavy plasma fire came down on himself, the Chief and Max.  
  
"Where's Samus?" Max asked.  
  
The Chief had forgotten. She should have been out by now. "I'm back going in."  
  
As soon as the Chief got up, Grunts and Jackals opened fire. He ducked back down quickly. The drop ship had left behind about 12 or 14 Grunts and Jackals and a few Elites. When the plasma fire died down, the Chief poked his head up and shot a few cretins with his pistol.  
  
"Shit! I'm outta ammo!" Sgt. Johnson yelled out. The Chief tossed him a plasma rifle he had policed earlier from an Elite carcass. "Thanks." The chief nodded in response.  
  
Samus fired her Wave Beam at her former comrades. The power of the beam sent the former Jack Slate back into the wall. Kang went for another swing but Samus compressed herself into a ball, rolled through Kang's legs, dropping a bomb on the way. Confusingly, Kang looked down at the tiny object as a small explosion went off, ripping him to green slimy shreds. Slate rose back to his feet and wrapped his left appendage around Samus. He tossed her into the wall to their right. Samus hit the floor hard, her head spinning. Slate looked down at her, ready to finish her off, until one, two, three bullets pierced through his torso. His disfigured body collapsed to the floor next to Samus, which revealed the Master Chief standing behind him, carrying his pistol. He held out his hand.  
  
"Thanks..." she said, grasping onto his arm and pulling herself up. "I found Kang."  
  
"Where is he?" he asked.  
  
She pointed to chunks of Flood reminiscence on the floor. "There, there and there."  
  
"Well...we've got to keep going. We must be near the energy beacon now." The chief said, just as Johnson and Payne barged through the door.  
  
"Whew!" Johnson yelled out. "Now, that was fun." He said, laughing. "Let's go!"  
  
"What the hell happened, Vercetti?!" Raynor yelled at Tommy, next to 47's corpse.  
  
"He shot himself, it wasn't me! He said he was holding us back."  
  
Marle and Lucca turned away. Crono bowed his head.  
  
"Jesus Christ...well, we need to keep moving." Raynor said. "Chief...Chief do you come in?" Raynor turned on the radio.  
  
"What's your status Raynor?"  
  
"We've lost 47. We're moving ahead."  
  
The chief was silent for a moment. "Alright."  
  
"What is it?" Samus asked.  
  
"They lost 47. We need to keep moving, the third energy beacon isn't far..."  
  
"Your excellence," Miyap scowled, out of breath, "the machine has been completed."  
  
"Excellent..." replied the towering Elite.  
  
"It should be tested out first," the grunt continued, as the two of them walked up to the machine.  
  
"You're absolutely right!" replied Muka, as he shoved Miyap into the contraption and shoved the door.  
  
"What are you doing?" Miyap yelled, as he put his hands up on the glass. Muka ran his fingers over the board making a random number. Muka laughed as Miyap struggled to open the doors. Then, a bright flash went throughout the room and when the light died down, Miyap was gone. Nothing but smoke remained in the chamber of the machine.  
  
Muka turned and faced the rest of the Covenant in the room. "This machine, will lead is to our destiny! This finalizes our victory over the humans. Someone bring me the folders that were retrieved from UNSC HQ. We will begin sending fleets to the designated time eras to wipe out Team Omega. We are instruments of God and we will do his work!" 


	21. The Decision

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or any of these characters.  
  
Best of the Best Chapter 21: The Decision  
  
"Your excellence..." a grunt asked Muka 'Mamamee, "Wouldn't it be much more efficient just to attack the humans when they first came to earth?"  
  
"It is not that simple, fool." Muka answered, "Long ago on the planet were great creatures, much larger and powerful than us. It is not certain when those creatures vanished from earth, and we do not have the time to find out now. By destroying Team Omega, we will finalize our victory. My liege!" The Elite finished, as a Prophet entered the room.  
  
The prophet, Shlabba, spoke to Muka in his mind. 'Have you begun the process?"  
  
'My liege, we are rounding up fleets to send through the machine...'  
  
'There is no time! The alliance with the Monitor has been broken. The band of Humans has taken control of the ring and is about to destroy this planet.'  
  
'But my liege, are our defenses not impenetrable?'  
  
'Not against such a weapon as this. Our planet will be destroyed. Our last hope is that your fleets can destroy those in Team Omega. Waste no time!'  
  
"Chief, we're coming up on the third beacon now! It's somewhere in the next room, but I'm picking up a lot of movement!" Raynor spoke over the radio.  
  
"Hold your position, we're on our way." The Chief responded to him. The chief turned to face Samus, Johnson and Payne. "The others have found the room, but there's a lot of movement there. We need to go help them, now." The four of them headed to Raynor's location.  
  
"I'm not sure what's in there..." Lucca put her head up against the metal door. I hear noises, plasma fire..."  
  
"Then there's more than one race in there." Raynor stated.  
  
"Whatever the hell they are, let's just go kill 'em all." Vercetti said, hoisting up his rocket launcher.  
  
"Take it easy, Tommy. The Chief said he'll be here in a minute."  
  
"...Faster than that" Samus said, as she came around the corner with the rest of Team Omega."  
  
"What are we waiting for; let's go get 'em!" Sgt. Johnson yelled out.  
  
The Chief and Raynor approached the door. As the metal slid across, it revealed a bunch of Covenant firing at a squad of Flood. Team Omega rushed in and began to shoot anything that moved. Tommy fired a rocket into the corner killing off a bunch of Flood Combat Forms. Crono charged at the single Golden Elite planted in the middle of the Covenant Squadron. The Elite unleashed his energy sword. Lucca and Marle combined their powers to perform an Antipode attack. The attack knocked back many grunts and jackals. They both turned around to get smacked across the room by a gigantic Hunter. The Hunter then turned, charged its fuel rod cannon and fired it at the rest of the team. Samus was blown back from the attack, as well were a few Flood Combat forms. A Carrier landed behind the Hunter and exploded, sending the beast flying forward.  
  
"Holy shit, look out!" Tommy yelled as the Hunter flew toward Raynor. He noticed it too late, however, and turned just as the huge Hunter crashed down onto him.  
  
"God damn it, not again!" Raynor yelled, trying to move. The Hunter opened its eyes and looked into Raynor's eyes. Raynor looked back. "Uh...hello?" The Hunter let out a large roar, but then went limp again. Raynor tilted his head and saw that the Chief and placed a pistol shot into its weak point. "You couldn't have waited until he got off me, eh?" Raynor asked, jokingly.  
  
Sparks flew off the energy sword and the Elite and Crono engaged in an old fashioned battle. Crono had hit the Elite several times and wiped out its power shield, but the Energy sword did knick Crono on the arm, and it stung painfully. The power of the weapon caused a simple scratch to hurt extremely. Crono managed to slice the Elite across the chest, causing the alien to grab it in pain. It let out a large grunt as it unlatched a Plasma Grenade and threw it at Crono. Crono ducked, the grenade attached itself to a Flood Combat Form which sent another band of Flood flying into the wall. Team Omega continued to fire their weapons until the few remaining Flood and Covenant were all motionless.  
  
"Alright, now to the beacon..." The chief said, but he was cut short.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to allow you to do that." The annoying voice of 343 Guilty Spark flew out of nowhere as he came through the ventilation system of the room, along with numerous sentinels. The sentinels surrounded Team Omega. "You've just happened to ruin my plan for the last time, Reclaimer. It is the fate of the Human Race to be destroyed along with those of the Covenant, and I'm not going to allow you to change that."  
  
The Chief looked at the floating robotic ball. "Try and stop me."  
  
"Very Well."  
  
The Sentinels opened fire upon the team. They returned fire as the Chief made a run for the beacon. He quickly took Cortana's chip out of his head and put it in the Control Panel.  
  
"Chief...this one may take a while to crack, I suggest you hold off those Sentinels."  
  
The chief ran back into the main room. Half of his team was on the ground, as more and more sentinels swarmed into the room through the ventilation system. He un holstered his pistol and fired at the machines.  
  
"There's too many of 'em, chief, we gotta get the hell outta here!" Sgt. Johnson told him.  
  
"No! We have to hold them off until Cortana can reprogram the energy beacon!"  
  
The team continued fighting. The Sentinels deadly red lasers tore through them like a warm knife through butter. The chief's MJOLNIR armor was damaged, as most of his team's as well. Samus fired her missiles into the air, causing numerous Sentinels to fall from the sky and crash to the ground as a chunk of burning metal.  
  
"Your attempt to stop my plan will fail." 343 Guilty Spark said, as he watched his Sentinels decimate Team Omega.  
  
"Hang on chief, I got an idea!" Raynor yelled out. He pressed a few buttons on his chaingun, then unlatched it from his suit. It began to beep and he threw it in the center of the room. The chaingun then set off a loud noise, and a wave of light emerged from it. The Sentinels fell out of the sky and hit the ground with large, metallic thumps.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Vercetti asked.  
  
"An EMP wave." Raynor said. "Kills off any machine by scrambling their AI."  
  
The Monitor remained hovering in the center of the room. His mind and structure was far to advanced to be destroyed by a simple EMP wave.  
  
"Chief, its ready, I'm putting in the co-ordinates now!"  
  
"Wait, Cortana!" The chief said. He radioed into UNSC HQ. "HQ, are there any units within our current location that can bring us home?"  
  
A voice on the other end responded. "Yes, there are two pelicans scouting your area, about ten minutes away. Get out in the open and I'll have them pick you up."  
  
"Cortana, set the co-ordinates to the Covenant Homeworld as well as this installation...we can have this freak causing any more problems..." he looked at the Monitor.  
  
"I'm putting an overriding system in now, we need to go!"  
  
"You will not get away!" 343 Guilty Spark shouted at The Chief and Cortana.  
  
"It's time we put an end to your little game!" Cortana said, "Chief, get us out of here!"  
  
The chief ran up to the console and grabbed Cortana's chip. He shoved it back into his own helmet. The team ran out of the door and headed out of the structure. 343 Guilty Spark followed them closely. The team finally got out of the structure and radioed to their nearby units to tell them their location. The two pelicans arrived there soon after, only when the Monitor emerged from the structure.  
  
"Jesus, why doesn't this guy ever give up?" Marle asked, frustrated.  
  
Six more sentinels which were patrolling outside came as the Monitor emerged from the structure. The Monitor ordered for them to fire at the Pelicans. The team took the Sentinels out too late, as they had managed to take down one of the two pelicans. The plane crashed to the ground and exploded.  
  
"We need to go, now, Chief!" Cortana instructed. "But one Pelican can only fit eight...there are nine of us!"  
  
"And that god damn metal thing is just gonna follow us and try to kill us anyway!" Tommy yelled out.  
  
"We're running out of time, chief!" Cortana said.  
  
For the first time in his life, the Chief didn't know hoe to take care of this situation. One of them had to stay behind. And he would rather it be himself. 


	22. The End

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or any of these characters in this story.

Best of the Best

Chapter 22: The End

The Chief struggled in thinking of a situation. "Crono, Marle, Lucca, Samus, Vercetti, Johnson, get on the plane now!" The chief ordered. The six of them hopped onto the Pelican. The Chief, Payne and Raynor were still firing at the Sentinels. The chief turned to the two of them. "Get on the Pelican, I'm staying behind."

"No way, I'm staying behind." Raynor said, "I'm having far too much fun to go anywhere! Yeehaw!" He yelled, feeding his chaingun into another Sentinel.

"That's unacceptable. You need to get on the plane now." The Chief said.

"Yeah," Max started, "you too, Chief. I'll stay."

"No, you-"

"This is what I was meant to do. I know it. I need to stay behind. I have nothing left to live for, except this."

The Chief looked at Payne, and nodded his head. The chief remembered reading Max's bio. He turned to Raynor. "You heard him, let's get out of here."

"You will pay for this, Reclaimer!" 343 Guilty Spark shouted, as he was out of Sentinels, and buzzed off into the distance.

The Chief and Raynor hopped on the Pelican.

"What about Max?" Samus asked.

"He's staying behind..." The chief told her. "Let's move this thing, now!"

The pilot lifted off the alien surface and began to head out in the sky. Max looked up at the Pelican and the rest of the team as they flew off. He turned his head to see some Covenant emerge from the structure. A tear fell from his eye as he reloaded both of his pistols. He knew that the detonation was going to go off any minute, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Bring it, you alien mother fuckers!" He yelled, as he fired off his two pistols into an Elite. The two grunts accompanying the elite ran off in the opposite direction. Max unloaded the clips into the eight foot tall alien, until it ceased to live. He chased down the two grunts. He grabbed one by the methane tank and ripped the mask off of the creature. He took his fist and smashed it into the creature's face, crushing its weak skull. He grabbed a grenade from his belt and threw it at the other grunt. It detonated, and sent the grunt flying fore ward in multiple pieces. As nothing else was left alive, Max fell to his knees. He dropped his pistols and stared into the sky. Suddenly a large explosion shook the whole ground. Max looked in the direction of the noise and saw a huge blue stream of energy emerge from the structure, and headed directly into space. A second explosion was heard, and a second stream of energy shot out. This one, however, turned itself around and headed back from where it came. Max witnessed the entire spectacle. The giant blue laser headed right for Halo. The light was so bright, he had to look away and close his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw something he would never had thought he would see again...his wife.

His beautiful wife Michelle was holding his baby girl in her hands. And for the first time in years, Max smiled.

The Pelican took Team Omega to a small base on a tiny planet, where a spacecraft with SlipSpace capability would take them back to earth.

"Chief," Cortana said, "The weapon should be hitting the Covenant home world in a matter of minutes. They won't even have any time to send any fleets out. After that is destroyed, the rouge Covenant will be easy to hunt down and kill..."

"We took these men from their lives only for them to die in the future..." he whispered.

"There's nothing we can do now." Cortana told him.

"Yeah," Samus said, "besides, we wouldn't have been able to do it without their help."

The Chief walked off, while the rest of Team Omega waited for the spaceship. Samus took off her helmet and wiped away a tear, then placed the helmet in the Pelican. Then she followed the chief.

The Master Chief was standing at the end of the landing pad. Samus came up behind him. "Hey," she said.

The chief turned and faced her. She could see her own reflection in visor on the Chief's helmet. "Yes?" he asked.

"I just wanted to thank you for everything...this mission was like no other I've ever done."

"No thanks are necessary."

"You gave me the opportunity to help save the world." Samus said. She smiled at him.

"I was just doing my job."

"You also saved my life, more than once..."

"You are an important member to the team."

"Chief, stop talking like a god damn machine!"

The Chief looked at her. "This is how I was raised. I was raised to speak this way. I didn't have any parents, or any brothers or sisters. I only had teammates. I was raised to fight. That is my purpose in this life, is to fight. What do you want from me?"

"I want you to be human..." she said.

"Why?"

"Because..." she said, as she reached for his helmet. She went to snap it off, but the Chief put his hand on hers to stop her.

"No..." he told her.

"Why not?" Samus said, as a tear started down her cheek. "All humans have feelings. Even you."

"I was taught not to have personal attachments. I was always taught to keep 100% of my focus on the fight. Personal attachments make people think about one another, and it gets your mind off the fight. They're distracting, they make you weak."

Samus looked at him in disgust. "Do you actually believe what you're saying?"

"I have to."

Samus looked at him once more, then wiped away her tear and ran back to the Pelican. The Chief stared at her motionlessly, thinking about what he had just done.

Muka 'Mamamee rushed around, gathering as many soldiers as possible. He had just sent a fleet to the year 1000, but only had time for one more fleet. He flipped through the bios of Team Omega, picked one, and punched in the according year; 2205. Another entire fleet had gotten into the machine and was about to send them back.

"My liege, quickly, into the machine." Muka said to Shlabba. The Prophet hovered into the Machine and Muka climbed in himself.

Seconds after the machine sent the fleet back through time, the weapon struck the planet. It was incinerated in seconds.

The future no longer has to worry about the threat known as the Covenant race. But now, the past does.

The End

A/N: Don't worry, this story will branch off into two continuations. One will be in the Chrono Trigger Category, called "Rest of the Best" and the other will be in the Metroid category, "Worst of the Worst". I don't know when I will have time to start these stories, since I am beginning to work on a novel. Just make sure to keep a look out. Thanks for all my fans who have supported this story through the entire thing, I hope you enjoy the ending.


End file.
